Moonbot
by Dragon Raptyr
Summary: Jamie Bennet never stopped believing. But when the past and present collide, he'll have to learn the pasts of the Guardians, and the secrets they hold, to stop Pitch Black's return. Rated to be safe.
1. All Grown Up

Jamie never stopped believing. Not even when he grew up, or got married. But when his past and present collide, it'll be more than a little bit mad.

Notes- Cupcake is Chilali.

* * *

Jaime sketched lightly, capturing Jack's form as the Guardian perched outside on his staff, a snowball in one hand. The children ran about, laughing as they teamed up against the mischievous winter spirit.

Sipping at his coffee, Jaime turned to a new page, picking up a well-worn blending stub, and using it to trace Jack lightly. He picked up a fairly soft pencil, carefully filling in the detail work.

Chilali walked into the kitchen, wearing a comfortable robe over her growing belly. She sipped at a cup of tea, glancing out at Jack. "I hate to spoil his fun, but the kids have to go to school today sooner or later."

She glanced down at his sketchbook, and how many pages he had filled. "And you have to get to work. You start at the studio today, and you don't want to be late."

Jamie gave a mock pout. "Let them have their fun, Cupcake. Jack's a good babysitter, when you can trick him into it."

Chilali blew the steam away from her cup. "I'm not sure how much it is tricking him as it is getting him to do something he would do anyway. It isn't hard you know." She looked down at him, as he filled in more of the picture. "And you can work on that when you get back. It'll still be here, you know."

"Jack might not be."

"Jack has work, and so do you. You really should have left five minutes ago."

Jamie glanced at the clock. It was nearly Eight, and he had to be at the studio by Eight-Thirty. Cursing lightly in Yetish, he tucked his pencils and sketchbooks into his bag. Jack had been such a tempting figure to draw, and he hadn't been able to resist.

Pecking his wife lightly on the cheek, he rushed out the door.

Jack had gotten it into his head that frosting the car was a wonderful idea, and that the windows were big enough to work as canvasses. Doodles in the quickly melting fern frost covered the windows, and there was a large elephant shaped gap on the windshield where Jack had pulled a massive snow mammoth from.

Clipping the seatbelt on, he rolled out the driveway, checking his mirrors carefully.

Palm trees and low shrubs grew along the road, and traffic was already snarled up. He really didn't care much for Louisiana, but this was where the work was, and they'd had to move from cold Burgess just last month.

Jamie still couldn't understand how Jack managed to take the Louisiana mugginess.

It took nearly twenty five minute to get through traffic, and Jamie's plans for an early start to the day clearly weren't going to happen. With a sigh, he parked and pushed open the door to the studio.

Harry was standing at the desk, talking to the secretary. Glancing up, the young man brushed his hair out of his eyes, and bounded up to Jamie.

"Jamie! Long time no see!" The man greeted enthusiastically. "No need for the tour, I guess. You got it last week. You're in my department, so I can show you where we're going."

Harry steered Jamie through the crowd already thronging around the front desk. "You know Rodney, of course, and Wilbur. They're in the department next to ours. We get the good stuff."

A plaque on the door announced the Graphic Design and Merchandising department, and Harry scooted through it.

"Welcome to the office!"

A young man with spiky blond hair looked up from the computer screen when Harry came in. "Hey Junior. Who's the new recruit?"

Harry bounced away from Jamie, leaving the man to look about the room. There were three large computers, and the room was filled with Goldberg machines leaning against the wall. Jamie glanced around, unsure of which computer was supposed to be his workstation. "Harry?"

Harry turned around, and smacked his forehead. "Sorry. You get the computer on the left. Password's already set up and everything." He put a hand on the blond haired man's shoulder. "This is Cornelius, and you already know me of course."

Jamie nodded. "There are four people in the office, right? So why are there only three computers? Who's the fourth person?"

"Present and accounted for."

Jamie spun around. Standing on the counter was a man just five inches tall. The man leaned on a small touchscreen phone, grinning up at Jamie. The man gave a low bow, chuckling at Jamie's expression.

"George Shrinks, at your service. Welcome to Moonbot Studios"

* * *

Current Cast-

Cornelius (Meet the Robinsons)

George Shrinks

Harold Shrinks Junior (Junior)

Jamie Bennet

Chilali (Cucake) Bennet

Jack Frost

This plot bunny decided to bite my brain. Namely that Jamie grows up to be a graphic designer and work at moonbot. This leads to him learning of secret documents by Tsar Lunar, or MiM, and the history of the guardians.


	2. Jack's Homework

For everyone who faved, followed, reviewed, I present, chapter 2!

To last chapter's confusion - Jamie got a job at Moonbot Studios, the studio cofounded by William Joyce to promote, publish, or aid with his works. Rather than come up with a bunch of dry OCs, I thought "If the Guardians are real in this Universe, what about his other works?" That brought in George Shrinks, his brother, Lewis (or Cornelius, as he's now known), as well as other characters. Also, it gave me the opportunity of either skipping ahead, or, in Conelius's case, catching him in the middle.

As to the name Chilali - It's supposed to be Native American (I couldn't find the tribe, and for that I apologize), and Cupcake looked either Spanish or First Nations to me. I searched for names, and picked Chilali at random. I'm glad that people like it!

* * *

Chapter 2

Twenty years. It had been a long time since the battle with Pitch, and since he had become a guardian. Jack sat on Jamie's roof, enjoying the warm night air. Contrary to popular belief, warmth and heat didn't make him sick, especially since he could always cool down his surroundings to a comfortable temperature.

So he had decided to drop in and visit Jamie, and wish him a congratulations on the new job. Then the kids had pounced on him, and begged for a bit of playtime with 'Uncle Jack'. Who was he to say no? Sighing, he pulled out a worn and faded book bound in deep blue leather with silver and gold designs on the cover that were beginning to flake off.

North had called it his homework, and insisted that the young guardian should learn Lunarian, along with the lessons in Yetish and various animal languages. Lunarian wasn't the hardest language out there, sea slug was harder by far (too close to sea snail or coral), and the words were beautiful enough to look at.

But it wasn't exactly fun. Not alone, anyway. Jamie had been interested for years in what the Yeti were saying, and had begged Jack to teach him. So, learning new languages together had become a pastime. Leaning back, Jack tucked the book into his hoodie, and leapt off the roof, dancing lightly on the lawn.

He ran the butt of his staff along the tips of the grass, tracing frost carefully along each blade. It would soon melt into dew in this heat, but getting the dew perfect, when it had first come from frost? That was an art that he was dying to learn, along with how to paint the leaves in the fall. And dew and autumn and frost went together perfectly.

He'd looked himself up in the library once, and been startled to know that legends of him had been told in the early twelve hundreds. Bunnymund had waved it off when Jack told the other Guardians, laughing.

"So you get to do a bit of Time Travelling, eh Frostbite? Why are you complaining?"

"Time travel?" the idea had never even occurred to him. "I though maybe there was someone else out there with my name."

Bunnymund shook his head, ears held back casually. "You think that I'd get sour over three hundred years of pranks? Try over eight hundred. That'll start getting on your nerves. It's getting on mine just thinking about having to let you romp about like that."

North had stepped in then, and clapped Jack on the back. "Not to worry, Bunny. Ombric will look after him. You can trust Father Time, yes?"

Bunny stepped back. "Trust? Yes. But the ankle-biter had a bad habit of getting ideas into his head and acting on them North. He's still young."

North shrugged. "I am younger still. Even Jack is older than I am."

That had been interesting to hear, but he hadn't been able to pry any information out of them. Not why North was younger, or better yet, why Bunny chose to call Father Time an ankle biter. Blackmail wasted, big time.

Shaking himself back into the present, he hovered above the grass, checking that he'd gotten the ratio of dew to grass correct, and that he'd reduced the humidity and warmth in the area enough to drop the storm building overhead down in power.

He'd accidentally made storms stronger for a while before he figured out where to place his cold. Kansas had taught him that the hard way.

But he'd gotten better! He didn't strengthen storms nearly so much anymore! Not every time, at least.

Jamie's car pulled into the driveway behind him. Looking at the lawn one more time, Jack sent a final spray of frost over the grass, and darted over to perch on the hood of the car.

"Took you a while."

Jamie shrugged. "Apparently they decided to throw a welcome to the office party. It took me forever to slip away." He looked at Jack, still sitting on the hood. "Why are you still hanging around anyway?"

Jack shrugged. "I came back, actually, I've been in Northern Mongolia and Chile for the better part of the day. I wanted to practice something new, though, and North gave me more homework." Jack paced up the hood of the car, his staff resting against his shoulders. "I know you like taking a peek at my lessons, so I thought I'd bring them down for you to take a look at."

Jamie laughed. "Or you just want help with them. I'm a dad, Jack. You get a sixth sense over these things. But you are right. I would like to take a look at North's latest way of torturing you."

Jack dropped the book of Lunarian into Jamie's hands unceremoniously. "There you go. I've got to get back to my rounds. I'll be back on the weekend, when you've got some more time to go over it."

A moonbeam flitted down from the sky, chattering angrily at Jack's delay. Chuckling, the winter sprite drifted off. "Looks like I'm needed. Say hi to Cupcake and the new baby for me, okay?"

Jamie nodded, unlocking the door. He slipped inside, and Jack was off, following the errant moonbeam.

Jamie pulled off his shoes, and hung his coat on the rack. Footsteps pounded behind him, and he only had a moment before John and Mary crashed into him.

"Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" Mary chanted happily as she buried her forehead into her father's leg.

Chilali came up from behind the children, a smile on her face. "How'd your day go?" she asked gently, giving him a peck on the lips.

"And then I got three shots in basketball, and the teacher liked my poem, and I snuck one of Jack's special snowballs in my lunchbag, but it melted, so I had really tingly water all over my sandwich-" John's running commentary filled the silence, even as the boy switched over to explaining his sister's day.

Jamie grinned, and shooed the kids away. "Easy! I just got in the door! Can I get a few minutes to unwind first? Then I can hear all about your days."

Mary pulled the book of Lunarian from her father's grasp. "Is this a storybook?" she asked innocently, looking at the looping and falling words. She tipped the book upside down, trying to make sense of the funny letters.

Jamie pulled the book from her grasp gently. "It's your Uncle Jack's homework. He wanted some help with it this weekend."

"What is it?"

"It's the language that the Man in the Moon sometimes uses when he doesn't want the boogeyman to find out what he's up to. So Uncle Jack needs to learn it. But he's been having some trouble with it."

John wrinkled his nose. "Santa gives Uncle Jack homework for Christmas? That's as bad as dirty socks when I hide them from Mom." He wandered away to the kitchen, and the gentle clatter of dishes and cupboards reached Jamie's ears.

He pecked Chilali on the lips again, and picked up Mary. "Did you want to learn to speak Moon, John?" he called to the kitchen.

"That's okay!" John called back.

Shrugging, Jamie carried his daughter to the couch, and set her on his lap. The walls of the living room were covered in sketches and pictures, portraits of family and friends. Jack was often at the forefront, or at the very back. They'd managed to sneak him into almost all of them, in places where he was part of the picture, but wouldn't leave an uncomfortable or inexplicable gap if anyone who didn't believe in Jack saw the pictures.

Leaning back, he opened the book of Lunarian, looking it over. "It looks easier to understand than sea slug, at least." He murmured.

Mary perked up, and snuggled into her father's chest. "I can speak sea slug!" She announced proudly, tracing a hand over the letters. "Can Uncle Jack speak sea slug?"

"A little bit." Chilali handed him some reheated shepherd's pie, and sat down beside them. "But he doesn't speak it very well. He speaks wolf, horse, and yeti very well though."

Mary nodded proudly. "I can speak cat! Meow! Meow!" she demonstrated her skill, meowing sleepily.

Chilali looked at the book, and smiled. "It's very nice of you to help Jack, you know." She tapped a finger to her chin. "So what held you up today? We expected you back by six?"

"Office welcoming party. My department manager decided that we should have one at the last minute, and went off the walls with ordering in pop and pizza. Turned out to be nice, but it took a while to get away."

She nodded in understanding. "Is Harry still working there?"

"Him and his brother. They're all a very creative bunch, and know how to keep you on your toes. We've got an intern named Cornelius, he's got an engineering background, so I don't know what made him want to take up graphic design. He's a good kid, though. They all are."

Mary yawned, curling up in his lap. Jamie put the book aside, and dug into the shepherd's pie. There had been one unusual thing that he wanted to mention, but it could wait until the weekend. Jack and the other Guardians deserved to hear about the Project. It did concern them, after all.

* * *

Feel free to comment if you have questions or complaints!


	3. Bilingual Bonus

Thank you very much for your faves, follows and reviews!

North and Bunny mostly ran away with the exposition in this one. And Jack. Poor Jack

* * *

The week passed quickly. Jamie read up on Lunarian as fast as he could learn, teaching John and Mary fragments when possible. The children loved learning the language of the moon, and ran about the house speaking garbled phrases of Moth, Lunarian, and Iroquois.

Every night, Jamie would check the Nightmares that Pitch tried to send that had gotten trapped in the dreamcatchers that were hung over every bed in the house, and in every hall.

The nightmares writhed and snapped whenever Chilali untangled them, and handed to the children to change into golden dreamsand. She tucked the dreamsand into an old storage bin in the basement, and sprinkled a bit on the children every night, just in case Pitch tried to change Sandy's dreams into nightmares.

For their parts, John and Mary understood that something was happening. They had grown up on tales of the Nightmare King, and of the Guardians. And when your uncle could make it snow in Louisiana, and leave frost on your windows in the middle of summer, it wasn't hard to believe that Pitch was real.

Saturday dawned bright at clear, and Jack was as good as his word, showing up at ten to go over the book of Lunarian.

"What's wrong?" Jack perched on the back of Jamie's chair, looking over his friend's shoulder. "You seem distracted."

Jamie rubbed a hand over the stubble that he hadn't bothered to shave off. "Something came up at work, and I keep thinking that Pitch is going to find out." He sipped at a late-morning mug of coffee, hoping that the caffeine would drive away the fog that was chasing itself around his brain.

Jack glanced at the book, checking his vocabulary and pronunciation. "It that is bad?" he asked in Lunarian.

"Is it that bad?" Jamie replied in turn. "It isn't bad, not really. But Pitch will jump on it if he gets the chance, or try to exploit it. Also, it concerns all of you guys, so I figured you should get a heads up."

Jack was silent for a minute. "I'll see if the others can make if for dinner. Is that okay with you?"

Chilali looked up from where she was untangling a particularly stubborn nightmare from the threads. The sand snapped at her fingers, loose tendrils that clung and climbed like an octopus. She batted them away absently, passing them to Mary.

Mary giggled and started running her fingers over the sand and watching it turn bright gold. The sand swirled, forming pictures of dolphins and mermaids that danced around the table.

John sat near Jack, carefully copying out the Lunarian words. They were beautiful, and looped over the paper artistically. "Can North and the others come? Please dad?" he poked out his tongue between a hole in his teeth. "I've been saving this one! I want to see what Tooth thinks of it!"

Mary looked up from chasing the mermaids under the table. "Uncle Jack! Uncle Phil! Please, Mommy, can they stay for dinner?"

Chilali smiled, and pulled the last strand of black sand free of the dreamcatcher, passing it to Mary to play with. "That shouldn't be a problem. We have a free schedule tonight, and the kids would love to see everyone again. Do you think Tooth and Sandy will be able to get the time off?"

Jack leaned back, drifting on the warm air. "Won't be a problem." Pausing, he repeated the phrase, this time in Lunarian. "It shall isn't a problem. Will not be. It shall will not be a proper."

"Shan't. Won't. It shan't be a problem, or, it won't be a problem." Jamie pointed to the correct conjugation on the page. "You should go for tonight only speaking Lunarian. Make it a challenge, or a game for yourself. Every time you mess up, you have to take a dare, or something."

Jack grinned. "Great idea!" he whooped happily in Lunarian, tumbling through the air. "I'll seek infantly by cheese!"

John glanced at the book, and then at his wayward uncle. "I don't want to know what you were trying to say."

The afternoon was spent cleaning, and preparing for the arrival of the Guardians. Jamie paced back and forth in the hall, muttering to himself in Lunarian. "You can do this, you can do this, you can do this."

The doorbell rang suddenly, startling Jamie out of his reverie. Walking to the door, he opened it and looked around. There was no one there.

"Down here!" Jamie glanced down, and noticed George on the front step. He was sitting in a retro model red and white car, the taillights glowing in the dark. George pressed a button on the dash, and a helicopter blade came out of a hatch right in front of the cockpit.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" George asked politely, the car hovering at eyelevel.

Jamie nodded. "I'm afraid so. My family is having a bit of company, and we're expecting them any minute. Sorry you came all this way for nothing."

George shrugged. "Not a problem. I guess I didn't give you a lot of notice. We were heading to the bar, and it was kind of a last minute thing. Sorry."

Jamie waved off the apology. "Not a problem. Thanks for the consideration, though." A baby tooth zipped through the sky overhead, and Jamie could just make out Tooth's shape in the distance. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to excuse myself. I just remembered that I was volunteered to set the table, and I got distracted with an idea."

George laughed. "I know the feeling. I'd better not hold you up." He backed the car away, and started to leave.

"See you Monday!" Jamie called out. Belatedly, he realized that his words had been in Lunarian, and that George would think it was gibberish.

For his part, George just raised an eyebrow. "See you on Monday!" he called back.

Jamie shut the door, and hurried to the upstairs hall window. He didn't have to open it – like her fairies, she could pass through glass- but it was the thought that counted.

Cranking open the window, he let Tooth in. She and her entourage looked spectacular as always. Glimmering gossamer wings, and radiant well cleaned feathers that shimmered like a rainbow. Green, azure, and gold all gleamed in the warm summer air.

A burst of cold air filled the room, and Jack alit on the windowsill next to Tooth. One of the baby teeth, the largest, buzzed over to perch on Jack's shoulder comfortably. Idly, she chattered at the boy in a mix of hummingbird and bee, asking the boy how his summer had been, if he'd been flossing, and whether or not he thought that snowflakes should look more like teeth.

From downstairs in the hall, Jamie could hear the soft thump of one of North's portals opening. Tooth smiled at Jack, and flitted down the hall, mindful of the pictures and boxes that still filled the hallway.

"How's the new house?" She landed for a moment, squeezing through a tight gap before taking to the air again. "Do you like the job?"

Jamie shrugged. "I've only been at work for a week. It's a nice place, but it's no Burgess."

Jack laughed, slipping through the gap. "That's elk moon." He said in Lunarian. Frowning at his vocabulary, the winter sprite tried again. "Bobber for sure? That's for cat?" Giving a hiss of frustration, the boy ran over the words under his breath. "That's… for sure?"

Jamie nodded. "Got it that time."

Tooth flitted over to the youngest guardian. "You've been practicing! I can understand what you're saying now!" She hovered a moment, looking embarrassed. "Or at least, you aren't tripping over creative ways to swear anymore."

Jack looked amused at that. "Aw, but that was fun! And half of them were on purpose anyway! It was so easy to get on Bunny's nerves, and he couldn't hit me because 'I didn't know what I was saying half the time.'"

Bunny popped out of a tunnel, and whacked Jack over the head with a boomerang. "Knew it." The pooka flashed a smirk at Jack, bounding down the stairs. "I'd repeat what you called me, but there are kids present."

Jack rubbed his head, and gusted after the rabbit, rattling the boxes. Absently, Jamie steadied them, following Tooth into the kitchen.

It was crowded. Sandy was asleep in a corner, catching a nap after his busy schedule, and North was dancing around, Mary perched happily on the big Guardian's shoulders. John was chatting with the yeti Phil, who seemed to be telling a story about the pair of humans that he once caught trespassing near the Pole, and had hurried them off after they demanded his thumbprint.

North noticed Jamie, and let Mary slide off his shoulders to go pester the Sandman. The man's face lit up, and he pulled Jamie into a fierce bear hug. "Jamie! It has been long time! Good to see you again!"

Jamie returned the hug, and settled down at the table. Someone had set it in his lapse of concentration, and he noticed Chilali give him a wink from the other end of the table. Dinner looked excellent. Ham on the bone that had been slow cooked all day, corn on the cob, fresh biscuits, and plenty of soda for everyone but Tooth, who had a pitcher of sugar free lemonade.

North heaped his plate high, and dug right into the food. Bunnymund was more sedate, sticking to corn and biscuits, with a very small portion of ham. Everyone else decided to take normal sized helpings, instead of the heaps of food or absurdly little.

Sandy ate neatly, sand shapes flickering over his head. All the guardians, followed by the shape of Lousiana, and a question mark. Why had Jamie asked for all the guardians?

Jack caught notice of Sandy's question. "Good table. Why we hearing?" he asked in broken Lunarian.

Jamie got up from the table, pulling out a children's book. He set it on the table, where everyone could see. The book was blue, with a Lunar moth on the cover, and the moon as the backdrop. The Man in the Moon, the title read, by William Joyce.

"This is why. The founder of the Studios where I work now is publishing a series of books, all based on the guardians."

North shrugged. "This is what concerns you? Pitch knows these stories too. Why should he care about book of Guardians?"

Jack nodded. "Why book fly away to moon?"

Jamie set the book down. "For one thing, there's that the stories seem to be awfully close to what I remember of Pitch, and two, that Mr. Joyce said that the stories came from manuscripts that were left on Studio property by MiM."

North borrowed the book, glancing through the pages. The big man's face lit up, and he waved a page under Bunnymund's nose. "Look! Is Nightlight! Has been years since I last saw him!"

Bunny gave a grin, flipping through the pages. He chuckled, pointing out another image. "Can you believe I used to wear that? I was so, so…"

"Boring?"

"Yes! Boring! That's exactly the word that I was looking for. Politest one, anyway."

North kept flipping back and forth, his face darkening at one page. "Fearlings. Good that Pitch uses Nightmares now."

He didn't let Jack or the children see the page, and Jamie remembered the haunting image of Pitch on the bow of the Nightmare Galleon, the white eyed man shaped shadows that clustered behind the Nightmare King.

Good indeed that Pitch had turned to using Nightmares. From what he had been told, they were worse. A memory of Pitch hovered in the back of his mind. Of Pitch's hand breaking lightbulbs, and of his body passing harmlessly through the man's grasping hands.

More than one way to snuff out a light indeed.

North noticed his pensive expression, and closed the book. "Old memories can bite hard." The man murmured softly. "If this man does have documents left by MiM, then you are right. Pitch will act, and act quickly, to take those documents. He will not let the Guardians, or a human, have something so important."

Tooth buzzed unhappily. "Do you really think that he'd try to take them? To bring back old nightmares, to resurrect the fearlings?"

North nodded. "Yes. Jamie is right. If Pitch does not already know, he will know soon. Is book being read yet?"

Jamie shook his head. "It comes out next week. We all got complimentary copies. He's got a whole series planned. Even a movie about Jack!"

Jack perked up. "I get …Molasses? Moon? Mighty?" jack scowled for a moment. There was no way that Bunny was going to dangle a dare over his head. "Moving picture?"

Jamie nodded. "MiM's records were-are, I should say, thorough. I think that MiM is still adding to the documents. That's where Mr. Joyce was able to learn about Jack."

Jack shrugged. "More see. Good for me."

Sandman's thoughts flickered. A sandy comet buzzed overhead, harpoons, fearling-blobs swarming over. Then the moon, small tendrils of dreamsand, and the other Guardians. A goose shape, as well as a nightlight, and a tall wizened staff.

"Get the others? Are you sure? They don't have it as bad as jack, but there's a reason that MiM picked Jack last time, and not them. They've become almost powerless! You want to put them in that danger?" Bunnymund hopped away from the table, digging through the cupboards until he found a bag of chocolate chips.

Chewing on the sweet treat, Bunny leaned forward. "I don't think so, mate. Not happening."

Sandman gave a burst of gold sand, and formed the nightlight and goose shapes again, as well as an open book. Sparks of sand raced out like ripples or quakes as Sandy tried to emphasize the importance of this. They deserved to be part of it. It was their history on the line as well.

Jack nodded in agreement with Sandy. "Maybe see? Maybe believe? Then fight? You fight, when only Jamie"

Bunny sighed, downing a handful of chocolate. "Fine. I get your point. Besides, been a while since I saw them in action. It'll be good to get thee original team back together."

North leapt up from the table. "Then it is settled! We will be ready, when Pitch comes. He will not be expecting this!"

Tooth was still deep in thought, talking softly with Baby Tooth. "What I want to know is, how did Mr. Joyce read MiM's documents? They would have been written in Lunarian."

"See you on Monday!"

George's words flashed through Jamie's mind. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but it made sense now.

George spoke fluent Lunarian. The question was, why?

* * *

Questions or critique is appreciated! Enjoy!


	4. Guess who's coming to Dinner?

Shorter chapter today. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4

Cornelius Robinson was an inventor. He was going to change the world. It had been a while since the whole D0R-15 fiasco and the time machines, and he had kept moving forward ever since.

A lot of people questioned why someone who graduated college at fourteen with degrees in mathematics and engineering was doing at a small studio in Louisiana working on graphic design. The truth was, he was still working on getting his inventions to work, and needed money to support himself until he made his big breakthrough

He would, he had no doubt about that, it was just a matter of timing, and a desire to keep moving forward.

Monday dawned bright and warm, and Cornelius made sure to get to the studio extra early. Launch was Friday, and there was still a lot of work to be done before then.

Silently walking down the hall, he paused outside of the door. George and Jamie were already inside, discussing some matter heatedly. Or at least, Jamie was. George looked calm and fairly puzzled about whatever it was.

Cornelius bent down so that they wouldn't see his wild hair. What was going on in there?

"How do you know Lunarian?" Jamie's tenor voice filtered through the door, a bit of an edge to it.

Cornelius felt bad about eavesdropping, but he had to admit that the conversation confused him a bit. Lunarian? What was that?

George's voice was quieter, but calmer. "Manigishi and my Aunt Eunice taught me. Aunt Eunice got tired of translating, so I picked it up. It's not that surprising. My Aunt learned it from a tribe in Katmandu. I'm actually surprised that you know it, or at least a variant."

Jamie's footsteps echoed as the man paced around the room. "An older dialect. One that survived the passage of time, I guess."

George chuckled. "I figured. Yours is less burbling and easier for normal people to pronounce. You're very good."

A chair creaked as Jamie sat down. "Sorry for going all gung ho on you. I jumped to conclusions, and kind of reacted badly."

"That's okay. I get it all the time. People have a tendency to over or underestimate me because I'm five inches tall. Having someone blow up at me because I speak spaceman is kind of refreshing."

The room was silent, save for the hovering of the zoopercar. "Hey, I've got an idea!" George's voice cut through the silence. "Mani is coming over Wednesday. Why don't you and your family drop by my place for dinner? I know she'd like the chance to meet you."

Jamie was silent for a minute. "That should be alright. I think that everyone would like that. I'll let everyone know."

Cornelius edged upwards to peer in the window, coming face to face with a startled Jamie. The brown haired man pulled the door open, looking quizzically down at Cornelius.

"Cornelius? Harry? What are you two doing on the floor?"

Harry? Cornelius glanced around, finally seeing Harry leaning over his shoulder. "Gah!" Cornelius and Harry both jumped, startled by the other. Standing quickly, Cornelius made a show of dusting himself off. "Sorry. You and George looked busy, so I didn't want to interrupt."

Jamie nodded somewhat reluctantly. "Thanks for that, but you didn't have to…hover. It's kind of intimidating."

Cornelius nodded, chagrined. In the back of his head, wheels were turning. Jamie was hiding something. Something big. And a mystery this big just begged to be solved. Lunarian, spacemen, everything. What could be more exciting than this?

The fact that Cornelius had been hovering outside the door worried Jamie. He had almost certainly heard them talking; and the young inventor had a bad habit of not leaving something alone once it caught his attention. Decent trait when inventing, bad when it came to people.

He had to admit, he was actually looking forward to Wednesday's get together. He didn't know if George had discussed the book at all with his alien friend, or if it had even occurred to the small man. But Earth, and the Guardians, had no idea what was going on in the universe as a whole. Whether or not the fearlings were still roaming about, or if people were recovering. Sandy and MiM at least would be glad of the news, and they could use an ally from space.

But Pitch could not know that Earth had been discovered, that other spacefaring races were coming. Earth was vast, but it served as an effective prison for Pitch. Humanity had learned and adapted to face the Nightmare King after his millennia of exile, and would be fine even if Pitch remained. But the man had once terrorized the galaxy, and murdered less resilient planets. He could not be allowed to escape.

Negotiations would be delicate, to say the least. But George's alien friend deserved to know that the planet that she frequented was home to a figure that was better left in nightmares, or on the page of a history book.

Life and the fight had just grown more complicated. They had to prevent Pitch from getting the documents, and getting inspired by his earlier works of terror, and prevent him from repairing his Nightmare Galleon and sailing the skies once more.

The idea of the Nightmare Galleon and the Fearlings returning was a chilling thought.

A line had been drawn in the sand, and war was about to break out once more.

But would Earth be able to survive? Would anyone?

* * *

Critique is welcome!


	5. To Choose

Chapter 6 should be up by tonight.

* * *

Chapter 5

George had a very nice apartment near the outskirts of town. Not too big, not too small, but just right for his needs. Of course, considering that he was five inches tall, any space became large enough for him.

But he did do a lot of entertaining, and had friends over quite often. And today, he was expecting Mani and the Bennet family. Time for some Shrinks-style ingenuity. A roast went on early, and the potatoes as soon as he got home. Baby carrots into another pot, and one filled with water for the gravy.

He was using the upgraded model today, as opposed to his ordinary Zoopercar. As he had grown older, he had needed to be able to do more things, and lift more things as well. So, he had sat down at the drawing board, trying to think up ways to increase payload capacity and grip strength.

It was a lot of work, and he wouldn't have been able to do it without both his dad and Cornelius. They had started with the shell last time. This time, they started with the various instruments. The grips, chopper blades, and other instruments had been completely redesigned, and cast from durable alloys.

This wasn't the old Zoopercar. Not by a long shot. Six turbines ringed the cockpit, with a hatch that could lower hydraulic arms capable of lifting a pan with a frozen stuffed turkey. The arms were detachable, and he had most of the ordinary gadgets, including some more specialized robotic arms that could perform extremely delicate maneuvers.

For events like today, the Zoopercar had to be set aside, in favour of its big brother. Heavy lifting meant a bigger beastie.

With the power of the Z-2, it wasn't hard to prepare for his guests.

Mani arrived at Six pm sharp. She had cleaned up, polishing her armour and decorating it with some silver gloss. Scurrying in through the window, she glanced around the room. "You've gone all out, today. What's the occasion?" She asked in heavily accented Lunarian.

George bit his lip, grinning. "One of my coworkers speaks Lunarian too. He wanted to meet you, so I invited his family over. I'm expecting them in about a half hour.

Mani giggled. "You have a habit of getting yourself into these situations, don't you George?" she walked down the popsicle stick staircase he had installed along the window, looking about. "Though I must admit, I am rather intrigued by the thought of another human who learned to speak Lunarian."

George nodded. "I know. It caught me by surprise too. I don't think he realized that he was speaking it at first. It was kind of funny."

Mani shrugged. "Of course it was. Do you mind if I put on some music while we wait?"

George shook his head, hopping into the Z-2. "Nah. Scaramin's on the shelf. I've got to keep an eye on the food."

The alien thanked him, walking away. George powered up the Z-2, opening the oven door. Using a claw, he grabbed a meat thermometer, sticking it into the roast.

"Nearly done. Should be perfect for when Jamie gets here."

Jamie checked over the kids one last time. "Now remember. Be good for Baby Tooth, and do as she says. I want you both in bed by nine thirty. Okay?"

John nodded. "Not a problem! We can handle it!"

Baby Tooth warbled her assent, shooing the kids inside. Flying up to the car, she chirped reassuringly at Jamie. The kids would be fine. She had watched them before. They needed to get going, or they were going to be late.

"Okay, okay! We're going!" he opened the door, sliding into the passenger seat next to Chilali. "Ready to go?"

She stroked his head, kissing him gently on the forehead. "Always. Now stop fussing. Baby Tooth has a snow globe. If Pitch comes, or there's an accident, she'll get them to the Pole in a heartbeat. You need to stop worrying. They're big kids now."

"I know, I know. But I'm always worried that Pitch will try to take his revenge by going after them. I don't know what I'd do if he did anything to them."

Chilali gave him a hug. "If anything happened to them? Jamie, we took Pitch on when we were kids and won. We'd do the same thing a hundred times over if the kids got taken, and the Guardians would help to. Stop fussing. You'll only end up taunting Pitch and giving him ideas."

She turned on the engine, backing the car out of the driveway. "Now tidy up. We want to look our best."

Jamie squirmed a bit, trying to comb his hair. Tucking the comb into the cupholder, he tried to calm his nerves.

Meeting the Guardians was one thing. He saw them on a regular basis and was proud to call the immortals his friends. Adopted family in Jack's case. But meeting an actual extraterrestrial? Besides Sandy? Outside of his expertise.

But he owed it to them. Owed it to them to inform them of the peculiar behind the scenes action that was occurring all over the small planet at the edge of the stars.

They pulled up to George's apartment, and were buzzed in.

The carpets were clean. Faded green with gold oak leaves, but clean. There was none of the musty smell that normally accompanied an older apartment, just a light mint scent that hung in the halls.

Chilali reached out, knocking on George's door. Not five minutes later, the door swung open.

George was sitting in the cockpit of one of the strangest vehicles that Jamie had ever seen. It had six turbines, and a grasping claw that reminded him of an arcade game sticking out the bottom.

"Hey Jamie! Glad you could make it!" George put the vehicle on autopilot, and gave a bow. "And you must be Chilali. Jamie's talked about you quite a bit!"

Chilali wrapped her fingers into Jamie's, smiling at him. "All good things, I hope, or he'll be sleeping on the couch."

Jamie pretended to be offended. "Of course good things! Always good things!" he gave her a peck on the cheek. "Would I say anything bad about you?" He murmured, giving Chilali the biggest doe eyes that he could manage.

Chilali chuckled, and gave him a swat. "Maybe." She teased back. Reaching out a finger, she shook George's hand warmly. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Shrinks."

George laughed. "Just George is fine. I don't think even my dad ever went by Mr. except when he was in trouble."

A low hum caught Jamie's ear. The sound rose and fell in a soft cadence that had an unearthly sound to it. It sent shivers down Jamie's spine, reminding him of the brilliant idea he had to mix bad grade b-movies and too many boxes of pepperoni pizza.

George caught Jamie and Chilali's expressions. "My dad invents a lot of instruments. That one is called the scaramin. One of his wackier creations, but it grows on you. Mani likes to play it. Gives off a cool vibe."

Chilali shivered. "Gives me the chills, I'm afraid."

George nodded, nudging the aircraft towards the sound. "Yeah, it has that effect on people. I try not to leave it on at night or I end up with weird dreams."

A small spindly creature around George's height jumped down from the scaramin. It-she, Jamie corrected himself- had three legs that reminded him of earthworms, a set of robotic golden armor, and a single large eye with no pupil.

"You must be the Bennets!" she exclaimed happily. Her Lunarian had a distinct robotic touch to it, and she spoke faster than Jamie was used to hearing. "George mentioned that you spoke Lunarian. I thought no one aside from his family and that one tribe in Katmandu knew Lunarian."

Jamie shrugged. "I'm still working on it. I only started learning a couple of weeks ago."

The alien bowed. "You speak very well. Although, I can't say that I've ever heard the particular dialect that you speak. Humans generally don't possess the vocal chords for pure Lunarian. They have to use their fingers for some imitation."

She scurried up one of the many popsicle stick staircases that was scattered around the apartment, bringing herself to eyelevel with Jamie. "You, however, speak flawlessly without accoutrements. It's quite an accomplishment."

Jamie sat down on one of the chairs, nervous. "It's a very old branch of Lunarian. I'm afraid I don't know much more than that."

The small alien nodded thoughtfully. She was so different from Sandy, or even Pitch. "It is old, now that I think about it." She crossed all three of her legs, sinking to the floor. With a start, she looked up at Jamie and Chilali. "I do apologize for my rudeness, I don't think we were properly introduced. I am Manigishi, Senior Cadet of the One hundred and Seventy Seventh Brachial Guard's Scouting Division, aides to the House of Orion. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She gave a rough salute, before turning back to the matter at hand.

Jamie nodded. "Jamie Bennet of Earth, graphic designer at Moonbot Studios. You've met Chilali, my wife."

Mani didn't reply for a moment. "That dialect is so familiar! Why can't I place it?" the diminutive cadet fumed silently. "I've heard it before, and recently too!"

Chilali sat down. "Has George told you about his latest project at work?" she asked the small alien. "It's really quite interesting."

Mani stirred. "Not really. He's told me that they're releasing a new series based on earth folklore, but that's about it."

George settled down the hovercraft, walking over. "I'm a bit small to be able to carry one of the books home. Besides, despite what Mr. Joyce claims, it's just a work of fiction anyway."

Jamie raised an eyebrow. "The person who would know if it's a work of fiction is Mani. I'm not surprised though. It's a bit of a tall tale to swallow."

Chilali shook her head silently at her husband. It was a bad idea. They didn't want to spoil Mani's evening with nightmares.

Jamie got the point and backed down.

George nodded authoritatively. "Good thing too. I'd be afraid if Pitch and his dream pirates were real. Those things gave me the creeps."

Mani looked startled. Jamie cringed, wishing that George had been in on the secret, so that he would know not to mention Pitch."

"Pitch Black?" She asked, her voice squeaking slightly. "The Nightmare King, the Lord of the Fearlings? You think that he's just a legend, George?" she shook her head. "He was real. So very real. We're all lucky that he died millennia ago, or we'd be in a lot of trouble right know."

George gulped. "Those things were real? They gave me nightmares the first time I saw them." The small man fell silent. "Jamie, do you have a copy of the book? I can't remember the ending."

Jamie nodded reluctantly. "I brought one, but I'm beginning to think that showing Mani is a very bad idea. The ending isn't exactly upbeat."

George frowned. "I'm pretty sure that it was, though. Can you pass me the book?"

Jamie pulled it from his pack, contemplative. He had wanted Mani to know, wanted her for an ally. But now, face to face with her, and knowing what Pitch could do, it didn't seem worth it. But how could he tell George that? How could he drag anyone else into the war that he had become a part of nearly twenty years ago?

No. He couldn't do that. Even Pitch's name had frightened Mani. He had underestimated the situation. He could, and would, face down Pitch. He knew what the Nightmare King was capable of, and what he had been capable of.

He wouldn't put Mani through that, or George. "I'm sorry, George. But if any of this story is true, than I can't hand it over." He tucked the book back in his pack. That was the end of that.

Chilali sighed, and stood to pull the food out of the oven. George was too busy glaring at Jamie, trying to figure out why her husband had refused to part with the book. Jamie had the scaramin in his palms, and was running his hands over the sphere, filling the apartment with the sound of the stars.

The music seemed to help calm both George and Mani down, and Chilali set the food on the table. "Are you going to join me for dinner?" she asked. "Or is this food going to get cold?"

The others reluctantly joined her. Dinner was a quiet affair at first. Chilali smiled, remembering one of Jack's favourite sayings. Have some fun instead. "How did you and George meet, Mani?" she asked.

Mani looked up. She had taken off her helmet, exposing beige skin and a small squid like beak. "That's a funny story. There was a meteor shower, and I crashed in George's backyard. We had to dodge a couple of 'professional alien trackers' who ended up helping me to get home."

George laughed. "I remember those two. They wanted Mani's autograph, right next to their yeti thumbprint. They were total dorks."

Jamie bit back a chuckle, and Chilali knew that he was thinking of the pair that Phil had thrown out of the North Pole after they went batty and kept pestering the Yeti. She joined in the laughter, prompting George and Mani to look at their guests oddly.

Chilali tried to keep her laughter under control. "They sound hilarious! Did they really pester you that badly?"

Mani nodded, finally calm again. "They did. We gave them a tour of our home planet as thanks, and they went crazy. They were so adorable though, that it was hard to hate them."

The darkness pushed back, they talked and laughed long into the night. Pitch could wait, for now.

* * *

I thought about having Jamie show Mani the book. But after learning how scared she was of a fairytale, he wouldn't have done it. It wasn't in his character. So, he didn't.

Critiques are welcome!


	6. Be Prepared

Chapter 6, for your enjoyment.

* * *

Chapter 6

_Sunday Morning_

Jack paced around North's workroom. "Why'd you call me away?" the sprite asked. "I was busy playing in Churchill."

North chuckled, clapping Jack heavily on the shoulder. "It is nice that you can be busy and play at the same time, but we must prepare for Pitch. There is much to do, little time, and you need some more practice."

Jack staggered, looking up at North. "Practice? Practice what? Making ice and snow? I've had three hundred years of practicing that."

North walked out of the workshop, gesturing to the young Guardian to follow. "Practice fighting, without your powers. You are very good with them. Without?" the big man shrugged. "I do not want to see without, but we must plan for such a thing."

Jack danced along, hopping across the Yeti's vast shoulders as he let the wind carry him. "Yeah. I'll be in a pickle if Pitch tries to break my staff again. Where are we going?"

North smiled, and stepped into the elevator. He extended a large arm, gesturing to Jack to join him. "Below."

Wary, Jack stepped onto the elevator. North pulled the lever for descending until it was touching the floor. The elevator shook for a moment, and then it felt as though the ground had dropped out from under his feet. Drifting on the current from the rapidly plunging elevator, Jack noticed a problem.

"Uh, hey North? You do realize that we're about to crash, right?" there was something unnerving about being in the elevator as it plunged towards the bottom that reminded him eerily of the pond.

North laughed heartily. "I said we go below! No such thing as crashing!" he grabbed the railing, chuckling at Jack's terrified expression. "Might want to hold onto something, It's about to get bumpy!"

Jack grabbed at the railing, closing his eyes and bracing for impact.

It never came. Jack opened his eyes, teeth chattering as he was bounced around. Looking up, he saw a stone door sliding closed. The rock tunnel was very close, and gave jack the sickening sensation that if he leaned to close, he'd just be a smear on the rock. Hunching down, he closed his eyes again, begging the ride to be over.

North tapped his shoulder. "Ride is over now, Jack. End of the line."

Jack stood up, dusting himself off as if nothing had happened, and followed North out of the elevator and down the short corridor. The Guardian of Wonder paused before a massive vault door, and held up a hand to Jack.

Two metal men stood before the door, each carrying a heavy sword just like North's. They looked up, glowing blue eyes gleaming as they looked North up and down, before standing to the side.

The vault door creaked open, and Jack stepped into the heart of the mountain. It was enormous. Tooth's palace would fit in three times, and still have some space left over. Ice sheets hung along the walls, and a pool of melt water lay at the center where yetis bent over massive forges that gleamed like lava.

"Where are we?"

North chuckled. "Middle of Mount Everest. Big place, yes? This is main cavern, and first floor. Other floors are below. Now come. There is much work to do."

North led the way to the massive forges, over a stone catwalk. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he was surprised at the contents of the room. "It's an armoury!"

Weapons lined the walls. Strange crossbows, ancient looking cannons with strange dials, small cubbyholes by the thousands, each containing a metal man. And above, hanging from threads, were incredible ships.

"North, what is this place really?"

North kept walking, glancing over his shoulder at Jack. "It is like you say. Pitch will not be content with Earth forever. From the stars he came, and to them he will one day try to return. This is in readiness for that day. An army to hold him down, and to keep him from the stars."

North stopped suddenly, crouching down so that he was at eyelevel with Jack. "Earth is Pitch's prison, Jack. And we are his jailors. No ordinary prison would hold him; that has been proven before. Thus, he must be free to wander the earth, but forbidden from ever leaving."

North sighed, looking his years for a brief instant. "So Earth is prison for us all, Jack. Sandman, MiM, Bunny and Nightlight, they all came from the stars once. And now, they hold Pitch and his armies at bay for eternity." Pausing to collect himself, North placed his hands on Jack's shoulders. "We are lucky. Earth is always our home. So we defend it, and the people who reside on it from Pitch. He will break out one day. We cannot keep him here forever. But we will hold him off until we have taken our last breaths, and finally dream forever."

Jack nodded. He would never let Pitch win. Not while he was still alive. "So, training, right?"

North beamed, leaping to his feet. "Yes! And there is much that is to be done!" He rapped on the side of one of the forges, waiting until an elf appeared. It was taller than most of the elves, hunched over and nearly a foot taller than the others.

"Gregor. Get Phil, and tell him that Jack needs armor. Then, fetch the men and meet me in the training room." North smiled at Jack. "You will be great, by the time we are done."

Phil lumbered into view, a heavy hammer slung over his back. "Chu ahii! Negayata du achiya." The yeti pulled Jack away from North, and towards one of the forges. North walked away, calling after Jack. "Meet me in the training room when you are done there!"

Positioning the winter sprite near the furnace so that he could see, the yeti stripped off Jack's hoodie and shirt. Setting them on the anvil, the yeti crouched down, measuring Jack with his huge hands.

"Ayaga nuuch. Batachihu nuyoy." Phil made a spinning motion, and Jack turned around. The heat of the furnace was warm against his skin, driving away some of the bone chilling cold that he knew so well. Phil tapped his back, muttering in yetish.

"Bayhu. Iska nirir" Phil scribbled some things down on a clipboard, grabbing a notched piece of iron that he wrapped around Jack's wrist. Peering at it, the Yeti scribbled some more down.

After taking a few more measurements, Phil handed Jack his shirt and hoodie, and then started scribbling on a new piece of paper, glancing at Jack every so often. Tapping his brush to his chin, the Yeti frowned at whatever was on the paper. Sighing, the yeti stood, and shooed Jack away. "Eiaci ruucha nes yil Nichiras."

Jack stepped away, dodging under Yeti arms and over elf heads.

He asked one of the Yetis for directions, and slipped off down the steps that it pointed to. The training room was big, though not nearly as big as the armoury above.

North was in the middle of the room, facing off against nearly thirty of the metal men from before. His swords lay at the side of the room, and North was armed with nothing but a bent and rusted knife that was nearly falling out of its handle.

The metal men shifted, one suddenly raising its blade to attack, even as another raised its sword and slid into a position to block North's escape.

North closed the gap between him and the metal man, the knife slicing through thin wires on its torso, before he ducked fluidly under the raised blade of the one that had covered for its comrade, slicing through it as well.

The blade of the knife fell out of the handle, and North caught it, jamming the handle into the chest plate of the man to the right. It fell sparking, and North leaned over backwards, jabbing the knife blade though an eye socket, before he leapt out of the circle, fitting blade and handle together again.

The metal men turned, spreading out in small groups to cover the loss of four of their comrades. North ignored them, and shifted the knife to his other hand. Bending down, he charged at one group, heaving them over his shoulder and into the ground. Rounding about to catch the next group, he parried a blow with his knife before ripping the metal man's arm off and using it to bash the others.

It didn't take long, five minutes at the most, for the men to be reduced to crushed and sparking heaps of metal on the floor.

North straightened, pulling a few kinks out of his back. Jack walked out from the doorway, eyeing the metal men nervously.

North grinned at the winter youth's unease. "Not to worry. You have a long way to go before you face thirty iron djinni with a bread knife."

The iron djinni picked themselves up from their places on the floor, and gathered their broken limbs. Silently, they tidied the room before brushing past Jack to head to the forge for repairs.

As Jack watched them go, North snatched his staff. Handling the wood easily, he put it in a case, locking it tightly. Jack fumed, leaping on the case to try to pull it open.

"What was that for?" Jack demanded. North pulled out a clean paintbrush, handing it to Jack. "You must work on your control, and learn how to fight without your staff. You cannot use your powers without it. This is a flaw that we must correct."

Jack looked at the paintbrush, and sank to the ground, lying on the black stone on his stomach. Drawing the paintbrush across the stone, he was disappointed to see a single line.

North watched him carefully. "You must work on control, and finesse. The brush will make a single stroke, not a finished masterpiece. This exercise will teach patience, control, and the ability to see a job through to the end. And by learning the pieces of the picture that you paint, the whole will become more incredible still."

Jack scowled, but said nothing. He added another line to the first, carefully expanding the fern frost. He would master this exercise, and win back his staff. North was going to see what it was that he could do.

Gloom gathered in the hole in the ground near Burgess that was Pitch's lair. The Nightmare King sat lazily on his throne, stroking tendrils of dark sand that spun off of his fingertips.

A child's book lay open on his lap, and Pitch gazed at the pictures of the Moon Clipper and his own Nightmare Galleon, with fearlings swarming the bow and rigging.

"How long has it been since I hid between the stars, and extinguished suns. Ten, twenty thousand years trapped on this miserable rock?"

Pitch gave a dark grin, caressing the pictures lovingly. "You should not have tried to stop me, Jamie Bennet. Because now? You never will."

Mad laughter rand through the empty halls, through twisting staircases, nightmares, and the dark eyes of fearling perched on the deck of an ancient ship.

* * *

Critiques are welcome!


	7. Questions and Answers

Another Guardian chapter. Should be one more, then we catch up to real time. And Pitch, of course.

Can you name all the guardians who appear in this chapter?

* * *

Chapter 7

_Tuesday Morning – North Pole_

Jack shifted from his seat in front of one of the pillars. He'd lowered the temperature considerably to keep his work pristine. North had set the temperature high at first, and Jack had lost more attempts than he cared to remember to the warmer air.

But now, it was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. The paintbrush was missing most of its bristles, and the few that were left had been frozen together to keep them stiff.

Jack drew a flourish over the wall, quickly adding progressively shorter strokes on either side. Fractals like the ones found in frost were hard. Harder than they looked, when they were spiralling out from his staff

He raised his brush for another stroke, gently setting the tip to the wall. Behind him, the door banged open suddenly.

A jagged line cut across the perfect depictions of maple leaves that he had drawn on the wall, ruining his work.

Standing, he spun around, intending to chew out whichever yeti had interrupted him this time, and spoiled one of his masterpieces. It was his best yet, in fact. He'd been trying out new types of frost, the kind that he sometimes saw forming naturally on windows.

The yeti wasn't alone. Tooth was with her, and looking better than ever. A crown-like helmet sat on her head, carefully sculpted to fit over her crest without breaking the feathers. Scale mail covered her chest, and bracers over her forearms.

She had pieces fitted carefully over her hips, and sharp metal edged both her wings and tail feathers. The armor was pewter in shade, mot quite silver or beige, with golden and pale blue accents on each scale.

But what surprised Jack the most was that she was carrying a pair of swords. Catching sight of Jack, she buzzed over to him, careful of her razor sharp wings.

"What do you think?" she asked joyfully. "It took me a bit to track this down, and I needed some practice. Two hundred years can make a girl rusty, you know."

Jack nodded, still a little in shock. "You look shiny. Shinier. And really, really sharp."

Tooth shrugged, hovering in a quick circle. "I know. Makes me wish I'd had the time to pull it out of storage back when we faced Pitch. I could have done a lot more than just knock out one of his teeth."

Jack shrugged, drawing a small line across the floor. He added a few more, doodling a small picture of Tooth and her fairies in light bright frost. "We were there, you could have grabbed them then."

Tooth caressed the hilts of her swords gently. "It took me nearly a month to get to these, Jack. I didn't have the time. I wish I had, though. I wish I had."

She straightened, and walked over to the Yeti. "We're going to warm the place up a bit so that we can practice, if that's all right Jack."

Jack lay back. No more practice for now, he guessed. "That's all right. I needed a break anyway."

Flipping to his feet, Jack gusted down the tunnels until he reached the armory. Bunny was there, hunched over yellowed papers. A pair of goggles sat on his head, and he was wearing a dusty coat that hung open around his shoulders. He was arguing with Phil about the mechanics of some project or other.

"The eggs need fine tuning, and I need to replace some of them. Magic's all well and good, but a bit of tech never hurt the beauties."

"Chuida. Ohoy nayana. Peuchii suhu chu un."

"No! You ain't goin' anywhere near me beautiful eggs. This is an ancient art, and the mechanisms are a secret! You ain't helping!"

Jack watched Bunny argue for a few minutes, before drifting towards the elevator. He needed some fresh air, badly.

Hunching down to try to ignore the horribly fast lift, he wobbled out into the globe room on shaky legs.

A honk came from right beside him, and Jack looked over his shoulder to see a massive goose standing there.

"Um, hello."

The goose gave a honk, looking him over. It pecked at his head, shoving its beak into his hoodie.

"Stop that!" he shooed the goose away, and flitted over to sit on the railing. One of the taller elves came over, glancing at him.

"Kaliash is no harm, Jack Frost. She says hello many times over." The elf babbled slightly.

Jack looked at the elf, in a bit of disbelief. "You talk."

"Many of the others are too wrapped up in toys and play to talk. Few of us still remember or bother. Mostly the eldest of us."

Jack tapped the paintbrush against the railing, drawing ferns on the wood, and wishing for his staff back. "No offense, but you guys don't exactly act intelligent most of the time."

The elf shrugged. "None taken. Only those of us who were human once still bother, and we are in the forges most of the time."

"You were human once?"

The elf nodded enthusiastically. "We were feared across the north. The Bandit King Nicholas Saint North, and his crew of miscreants. There wasn't a kingdom we hadn't pillaged, a treasure we hadn't sacked. By the time North was eighteen, we had stolen half the wealth of Europe. But our greed got the best of all of us but North, and we paid for it and were turned to stone. By the time we thawed out, North was a different man, and we were as we are today."

The elf chuckled. "Most of our children have never known anything but what they were. But those of us who do remember retain our loyalty and ferocity in battle. We aren't exactly the type of elves that most of the yetis want to be underfoot."

Jack laughed, turning his paintbrush over in his hands. "I have a hard time picturing North as a bandit, much less a bandit king. Was he really?"

The elf stood. "He was. If you'll excuse me, though, I have to make sure that Kaliash doesn't cause a mess. She means well, but she is a big bird, you know."

Jack nodded, and drifted about the globe room. Moonbeams were refracting about, playing tag amongst the mirrors. North was busy, speaking to two others, a smile on his face. He embraced a woman, and Jack saw tears on his cheeks.

Deciding not to interrupt, he drifted to the top floor.

Another face that he didn't recognize stood there, a chubby, friendly looking man holding a balloon. The man looked up at Jack, and smiled.

Jack set down on the railing, unsure of what to say to the man.

"I'm sorry, Jack, for putting you through all of that." The man looked sorrowful for a moment, like he wanted to give a hug to the winter spirit.

Jack tossed the paintbrush in his hands, running the bristles across his fingers. "Putting me through what? Did you do something?"

The man nodded, a look of regret still on his face. "You did so well on your own, for so long. You never needed my guidance, but you did need my support. I'm sorry that I didn't recognize that fact before."

Jack's heart sank, seeming to freeze in his chest. "You're the Man in the Moon?" Asking the question was almost painful. He didn't know how to respond when the Man in the Moon nodded a yes. Whether to try to freeze him, or fly off, our just scream.

"Why? Why did you ignore me? Why didn't you ever answer?"

MiM fiddled with his balloon for a moment. "There are so many moonbeams, Jack. I have to answer them all. But I listened. I always made time to listen. But you did everything right! You found your purpose so quickly. I'm not infallible, Jack. I can make mistakes. And when I saw you doing what you were meant to, I didn't understand your questions, or your solitude."

MiM looked grief-stricken by how he had unintentionally treated Jack. Jack looked at the ground, uncomfortable. "All I ever wanted were answers. Why was I here? Why choose me? It wasn't until I saw my memories in Antarctica that I realized why."

MiM shrugged helplessly. "I can't say how sorry I am. I didn't know that you had lost your memories, or how to provide guidance for what I thought that you already had. You were doing such a good job as a Guardian, I didn't know that you didn't remember anything. How could I give answers for what I thought that you already had?"

Jack stood, looking one more time at MiM. It had been twenty years since he had remembered, but MiM brought up old pain. "I need some space."

He jumped off the railing, bounding down to the room that he usually stayed in. Sandy was there, and waved at Jack as the young Guardian came in. Sand shapes flickered above his head, before the eldest guardian caught sight of Jacks expression.

A gentle smile filled his wide eyes, and Sandy wrapped a tendril of dreamsand around Jack, sending him off into a pleasant sleep filled with wonderful dreams.

* * *

Critiques are welcomed.


	8. Pomp and Circumstance

And now we're caught up with everyone!

I hope that this chapter turned out as epic for all of you as it was for me to write!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed. It's heartwarming to open up my email, and see such a positive outpouring! Thank you, everyone!

* * *

Chapter 8

_Wednesday evening_

Jack shifted uncomfortably, watching as Phil adjusted some piles of armor and cloth. Phil kept glancing at Jack, trying to make sure that the Guardian didn't see what he was up to. Finally, the Yeti was satisfied, however, and pulled out some pieces of clothing, handing them to Jack and motioning for him to put them on.

"Out here? What if a girl yeti, or Tooth comes in? I'm not getting changed here!"

Phil slapped a hand to his forehead. "Uruchi! Chu tu nu Yeti ir Tooth. Nayat moyang."

"I know that neither yetis or Tooth wear clothes. Humans do, and we change in private."

Phil grumbled, and the Yeti gathered the rest of the clothing and the armor in his arms. He pulled one of the Iron Djinni out of its cubbyhole, and thrust Jack in, standing in front of the cubby to block everyones' view.

Rocking back on his heels, the yeti whistled as he waited for Jack to change. Jack poked the Yeti when he was ready, and the Yeti turned around.

Nodding at his work, the Yeti pulled out a breastplate and shoulder guards, slipping it over Jack's head, and clipping on the shoulders. He passed over some gauntlets, and a set of greaves for Jack's legs.

As Jack put on the gauntlets, Phil slipped a helm over his head, and attached a hooded cape to the shoulder plate. Jack fastened the greaves, mentally glad that the yeti had had the foresight to avoid trying to force shoes onto his feet.

Phil led the way to the training room, and retrieved Jack's staff from the case. Passing the stick to the Guardian, Phil pushed Jack gently in from of a mirror.

Jack gazed in awe at his appearance. The helm on his head was vaguely norse, with gold and silver maple leaves framing his face. A sky blue cap covered the helm, ending in a tassel made of golden oak leaves and acorns. The rest of his clothing was blue as well, both the long sleeved shirt and the pants. The shirt was a lighter shade than the pants, matching the cap. Both were decorated with gold embroidery on the cuffs and collar that looked like fern frost creeping onto it.

The armor was just as resplendent. Silver in colour, the breastplate had appeared at first as a solid piece, but on looking more closely, Jack could see that it was an interlocking set of scales, each piece shaped like frost that locked together. Small diamonds, sapphires and pearls were set into the edges, giving it the appearance of ice that had begun to melt and then refrozen almost at once.

The greaves and gauntlets were the same, a crusted ice look that shimmered. Hints of gold thread glinted at the edges, like sunlight on snow. Jack pulled up the hood of the cape, admiring its depth, the silver and pale blue threads woven throughout it that gave it the same appearance as the frost that so often covered him. More fern frost embroidery decorated the hem, and a silver oak tassel hung on the back of the hood.

Jack squared his shoulders, and held his staff straight, looking at his reflection.

"I- I look incredible."

It was true. The clothes and armour were the best that he had ever owned, bar none. Not even while he was alive had he had such wealth. "I look like a prince, or a magician."

He spun around, giving Phil a hug. The yeti had poured his life and heart into this project, and it showed amazingly.

North walked up beside Phil, and rested a hand on Jack's shoulder. "You look wonderful, Jack. Phil has out done himself on this."

Phil nodded, and returned Jack's hug, rather pleased with his work. North beckoned Jack, and the two walked to the elevator.

"All of the guardians have arrived. We're having a big dinner, and the sight of you in your armour has given me a wonderful idea. You haven't been formally introduced to the others, correct?"

Jack shook his head. "Not beyond you, Tooth, Bunny and Sandy. North, where are you going with this, and how fast can I fly away?"

North laughed. "No flying, no worries. We just introduce you at dinner. You stand beside me, looking all epic, I make introductions, we sit down and eat. Nothing to worry about."

Jack rolled his eyes, glad that North couldn't see beneath his hood. "Sounds like everything to worry about to me." He muttered. "North, remember your first attempt at my Guardian ceremony?"

North nodded. "Good idea Jack! We must get the banners! This will be even better!"

The big man rubbed his hands together and hurried off. Phil came up beside Jack, and looked at North. Looking down at Jack, the Yeti pointed at his employer.

"Awayaba?"

"Yeah. Something like that." Jack followed North, waving at Phil. "Something tells me that I'm going to regret this."

The grand hall of the North Pole was huge. It was almost as tall as the globe room, and was big enough to hold every elf, yeti, and Guardian, all at once. High rafters curved to meet at the ceiling, and torches guttered brightly on the pillars.

Every guardian was sitting at the high table, save for North and Jack. Bunny leaned over Sandy to whisper in Tooth's ear. "Where are they? It's just about time to eat!"

Tooth shrugged, glancing towards the door. "No idea. But don't worry. North wouldn't miss a meal unless Pitch attacked."

Sandy glanced up at the two whispering above him, and rolled his eyes. If Jack and North were going to be late, he might as well get some rest. He had dreams to catch up on, after all.

A cold wind rose in the hall, sending bits of snow flying. The torches sputtered, and then went out completely. Caught unawares, everyone glanced towards the door, several rising from their seats unless it was Pitch.

Bunny tightened one paw on his boomerang, feeling for the catch on his bandoleer with the other.

A steady tapping filled the hall, the sound of a staff rapping against stone. A blue light shone at the end of the hall, and fern frost started to climb up the pillars to the faintly smouldering torches.

North walked in, flanked by ten yetis, and the original contingent of elves, each dressed in full regalia and armed to the teeth. North looked every inch the Bandit King that he had once been. The yetis carried tall spears and round shields, their fur combed and trimmed.

Behind North was a cloaked and hooded figure who was carrying a staff that glowed blue. Ice spread wherever he walked, creeping and creaking softly. The only sound in the hall was that of the tapping of the staff, a rhythmic sound that echoed unbearably in the silence.

The elves spread out, and the Yeti honour guard parted. The figure came up to stand beside North, face invisible under the hood.

The yetis banged the butts of their spears against the ground twice, and then fell silent.

North took a deep breath, his voice booming out through the room.

"It has been nearly two hundred years since we last gathered together in this hall. Now, we gather again, to face our oldest enemy. Twenty years ago, Tsar Lunar chose a young Guardian to join us. Now, I present him to you."

The figure pulled of his hood, and Jack smirked at the Guardians. Behind him, the Yetis lit their torches, moving silently through the halls to relight the extinguished ones. North's elven bandits raised the instruments they carried, playing a fanfare that filled the lightening room. Scarlet banners emblazoned in black and gold with the crest of the guardians unrolled, the largest behind the head table.

Bunny and Tooth gave a gasp. Jack looked regal now, his normal mischievous attitude giving him a royal air. He looked every part a Guardian.

Bunny was a bit put out. "How come we never got a big to do like this? We were just whisked off, said the oath, bada bing, we're guardians. No fluffy stuff."

"Bunny!" Tooth shushed.

North paused to catch his breath. "Before you stands Jack Frost. He has proven his worth to the world, and to us. Now, I present him to each of you."

"Tsar Lunar. Our leader, our guide. You chose Jack as one of your Guardians. Will you give him your blessing?"

MiM stood, and nodded. "I bid you a warm welcome, Jack Frost. May you always find a home with the Guardians."

"Nightlight. Bright Light, protector, guardian, warrior and friend. Will you give Jack your blessing?"

A slim boy stood from his place beside MiM. He wore wondrous armor, and a diamond spear with a gleaming tip was in his hand. Nightlight smiled at Jack, a cheerful infectious smile that warmed your heart and chased away the shadows. "Welcome to the Guardians, Jack!"

"Sandman. First and eldest of us all. You have come to know Jack as a comrade and a friend. Will you give him your blessing?"

Sandman didn't reply. Bunny glanced down, and cringed as Sandy snored happily beside him. Surreptitiously, Bunny shook Sandy awake, and repeated North's speech quietly.

Sandy glanced at Bunny, and then at Jack. Blowing out his cheeks, the little man shrugged. Smiling at Jack, he formed a bowler hat out of dreamsand, and tipped it to Jack with a small bow.

"Katherine. Storyteller, mother, old and dear friend. Jack is unknown to you, but has proven his heart is equal to any here. Will you give him your blessing?"

Katherine stood. She was neither young nor old, but at that comfortable middle point where age and wisdom first started to meet youth. She smiled down at Jack, Kaliash honking over her shoulder. "Hello Jack. It's a pleasure to meet you." Laughing, she scolded Kaliash for a moment. "Kaliash says welcome too. She's glad to have a new friend."

"E. Aster Bunnymund. Warrior, philosopher. Has Jack proven his merit to you, and earned your blessing?"

Bunny was caught off guard. "What? Oh, yeah. Course he has. Good on ya, mate. Just remember no more snow on Easter Sunday." Flustered, Bunny sat back down quickly, groaning as Tooth gestured for him to remain standing.

"Ombric. Sage, Atlantean, Wise sorcerer. You taught me all that you know. Will you share your wisdom with Jack, and give him your blessing?"

Ombric stood. He looked every part a wizard, complete with long beard, pointy hat, and staff. "You will always be welcome in Santoff Clausen, Jack Frost. Welcome to the Guardians."

"Last, but not least, Tooth. You have guarded Jack's memories, and have fought beside him. You have seen the truth of his character. Will you give him your blessing?"

Tooth buzzed her wings happily. "Of course! You will always be welcome here, Jack. Always." Pausing, she tacked on an afterthought. "And brush regularly!"

North turned to face Jack. "And I give you my blessing, Jack Frost. May your heart always be filled with laughter, and may you always guard the wonder, the wishes, hopes and dreams, of children everywhere."

Jack stood straight, holding his staff proudly. "I will. They are all that I am, All I was, and All that I will ever be. I will lay down my life to safeguard theirs."

The hall burst into cheers, and North's elves blew a fanfare proudly, as Jack took his seat at the table.

* * *

Next, it's Pitch's turn. He's been thinking and planning, and now he's ready to make his move. Everybody ready?

What are your thoughts on Jack's armour?

Critique and feedback is welcome.


	9. The Nightmare King

Pitch is not a nice person. In fact, he can be downright terrifying.

Rated T for Pitch.

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Chapter 9

_Early Thursday Morning_

"Don't make a sound. I don't know if anyone else is in yet."

George looked around the office, a cotton swab and dental floss recurve bow strapped to his back. At his side hung a quiver of toothpicks. The good, round ones, not the flimsy ones. Mani hopped onto a table beside him, looking around.

"Where is it? Your copy of the book? Where did you put it?" She was more than a little nervous about this entire idea. But Jamie's expression last night, even after talk had faded to lighter things, it bothered her. He knew something, and was trying to protect her from whatever it was.

George readied a paper clip grappling hook, and threw the loop up the shelf. "It should be to the left of Junior's desk. That's where I left it yesterday."

Mani scurried over there, looking about the workspace. The book wasn't there. She scattered the papers, knocking them to the floor as she dug about. "Not here, not over here." She turned to face George, a little bit frantic. "I can't find it."

George held up his hands. "No worries. Someone just moved it. There's a copy in the lunchroom that we can use."

"Looking for this?"

Mani turned around. There was a man standing there, where there hadn't been one before. He looked out of place, his monochrome skin contrasting oddly against the splash of colour that he held. He wore, or at least she thought he wore, a black robe that covered his feet. Even as she stared at it, she couldn't tell where his skin ended, and where his clothing began.

Large pale golden eyes blinked at her, and she shivered. Those eyes were disturbing. But the man looked nothing but sympathetic.

He held the book out, and placed it on the counter. Beside her, George jumped suddenly. "Hey! Don't come out of nowhere like that!" he scolded the man. "You just about gave me a heart attack!"

The man smiled, pointed teeth gleaming. "My apologies for that. I came across the book, and just had to read it. I didn't intend to inconvenience you at all."

He opened the book to the first page. "You wanted to read it, correct? Be my guest." He gestured to the book with a flourish and bowed. He stepped back, letting both George and Mani read the book.

It was a lighthearted affair for the most part, telling of the deceased Lunar family, and their struggle against wicked Pitch Black.

She fully expected to read the demise of the infant Lunar, and was overjoyed to learn that he had survived the attack that claimed his parent's lives. Less so when she discovered that Pitch had not been struck down.

The book ended on a lighthearted note, but the undercurrent that it carried worried her. It implied that Pitch was still around, still waiting to strike back.

She turned to the man and bowed, trying to fight down the unease that she felt. Pitch Black couldn't have survived. He couldn't. There was just no way. "thank you for bringing the book back. It was most informative." She closed it, and turned to him a final time. "I don't believe I caught your name, Mr?"

The man bowed, and his soft smile suddenly filled her with terror as too wide eyes gleamed at her.

"Why my dear, haven't you figured that out yet? It was spelled out in black and white, right there on the page?"

Pitch Black rose to his full height, staring at her the same way that the cat that used to live near George's house had stared her down. It was an unnerving predatory look, aloof and confident, and like he knew that he was the last thing they were about to see. "No. It can't be. You died!"

"Sealed away, more to the matter, but really, you know me so well, and I have yet to learn your name." He paced about, sharply, deliberately. "Now then, Manigishi, was it? I can't tell you how pleased I am to make your acquaintance. And George Shrinks, too. You always were to brave for your own good. That cat should have eaten you years ago. You wouldn't have been missed."

George pulled the bow from his back, nocking a toothpick to the string. "Very funny." He said dryly. "

George pulled the bow from his back, nocking a toothpick to the string. "Very funny." He said dryly. "You expect me to believe that you're the Nightmare King? That's a hoot."

Pitch took a step back and vanished. He simply wasn't there anymore. "Maybe I am, maybe not. Still…" he stuck his head out of a shadow on the wall behind them, all teeth and cold gold eyes. Pulling his head down to eyelevel with them, he smirked. "Can you really afford to think otherwise?"

George loosed a toothpick at Pitch's eye. The thing pulled back into the shadows, letting the toothpick embed itself in the wall. "Come out and face us fair and square!"

"Fair and square? I don't think so. I've already evened the playing field enough as it is. Do you really want any more help? You have me here…" He emerged near the door, leaning against the frame. "All alone." He rubbed his fingers together, inspecting his nails casually. "No fearlings, or nightmares, just Pitch Black."

He looked at them, disinterest on his features. "Do you really want more than that? I'd be happy oblige, but it would spoil the fun."

"What do you want?" Mani was terrified. Pitch Black, the man who slew the constellations, who slaughtered thousands of worlds, was hovering around, acting as if their conversation was the most casual thing in the world. Like he couldn't murder them right now, and not feel a speck of remorse.

Pitch looked up from where he had gone back to inspecting his fingernails. "Want? What do they teach in schools these days? I want the same thing that I always have. Fear, misery, oppression, the deaths and terror of millions. But what I want right now is you, my dear. You, your ship, and my ticket off this worthless husk. I grow tired of playing with humanity."

"Earth is not a worthless husk!" George loosed another toothpick, groaning as Pitch merely batted it aside.

"From your perspective, perhaps. But you are only human. I suppose that slight can be forgiven, for now." The Nightmare King stood straight, eyes narrowed and disdainful. "Now, my little friends. You have thirty seconds to relinquish your ship to me or I'll-"

A cloud of white foam burst over Pitch. Cornelius stood behind him, fiddling with the release valve on a fire extinguisher. "I knew there was something going on!" he shouted triumphantly. Now, if I can just fix this thing, we'll be in business."

Pitch sank into the shadows. "Cornelius Robinson. Or do you prefer Lewis? Either's fine with me you know."

He reappeared, hovering over Cornelius' shoulder. "Let's go with Lewis, hmm?"

Cornelius spun around, swinging the extinguisher like a club. Pitch faded into the shadows, a sinister chuckle echoing through the room. "So much fear, so much uncertainty. Can you feel it? Anyone?" he reappeared in the middle of the room, completely unafraid.

"How about you Lewis? How's your life working out for you so far? Do give Doris my regards, won't you?"

Cornelius leveled the fixed fire extinguisher at Pitch. "I will never invent her. Never."

Pitch just looked at Cornelius. "Never? Not even when you know, deep down inside, that her creation is necessary for your own success and wellbeing? You can't change time, Lewis. The only way you'll get you happy ending is by creating her, and the problem that pushed you to be the man you are today.

"And even if you think that you've got all the bugs out, that she will never turn evil, she will. She'll spark this whole scenario, and catch you in a never ending cycle. You'll ruin so many lives, and put others at risk. Just so that they can be happy."

Cornelius tightened his hand on the extinguisher. "I won't do that. It won't ever come to that."

Pitch chuckled, tucking his hands behind his back. "You don't believe that, you know. Not in your heart of hearts. It's your greatest fear. That one day, you'll have to make a monster, and trust that everything turns out all right."

He vanished again, reappearing over the desk. Pitch leaned down, running a finger around George and Mani. "And what about you, George Shrinks? You have a delightfully normal fear. You fear that one day, you'll die all alone. No wife, no children, no grandchildren. You're too small for a normal relationship, after all. Who could ever devote themselves to a disappointing life with someone too small to love, after all? The only people who are your size are the aliens, and they can't be with you in such a capacity."

"The joys of being small." Pitch looked innocent for a moment. The expression was terrifying. "You are always in so much more danger than anyone else. You could drown in a cup of water, or be smothered by syrup. One ill placed piece of fruit, that's all it would take to kill you, you know. But you put on such a brave face, every day. The truth is, the world scares you, George. You're old enough to recognize the dangers, and your own woeful limitations."

Pitch drew back, letting his voice echo around the room. "There's a reason humans aren't so small, George. Do you like knowing why?"

George growled, sending toothpicks at Pitch every time the man showed himself. "Stop talking and fight, you coward!"

"Oh, but I'm forgetting our guest, aren't I? Manigishi, how have the constellations been doing in my absence. Has the House of Orion recovered after the skirmish?"

"Skirmish?" Manigishi fought down the fear that filled her. "You massacred planets, Pitch. Thousands of billions of beings! You should answer for your crimes!"

Pitch merely sneered at her words. "I did answer. I left a documentary when I sacked the House of Betelgeuse. Did they find the tape? I remembered to take the lens cap off that time."

Mani shivered. That record had been horrible. They showed brief snippets of the less gory parts in the academy sometimes, to show what Pitch was capable of. It had given her nightmares for weeks.

"I see they did! Your pure terror is so refreshing. I'm touched that you fear me so much! That tape was some of my better work. Would you care to witness a live re-enactment of some of the best parts?" Pitch gestured at George and Cornelius. "We certainly have the actors for it."

"Not on your life, Pitch."

Jamie stood in the doorway holding a broom, glaring at the Nightmare King. "You want a fight, Boogeyman? Bring it on."

* * *

Critiques are welcome.


	10. New Recruits

Here's a short chapter to bid you all good night. At least from my end. Better buckle up, cause next chapter is in high gear, and we don't have seatbelts!

Glad to see that everyone liked Jack's armour!

* * *

Chapter 10

Pitch whirled around. "Jamie Bennet. It has been quite a long time, now hasn't it? Last time I was you, you were still a boy. At least, the last time I saw you in person."

Pitch stalked around Jamie, not bothering to hide in the shadows. Almost hesitantly, he laid a hand on Jamie's shoulder. When the Nightmare King didn't pass through, he grinned. "You aren't a child anymore, Jamie. Too bad your beautiful immunity flew out the window, hmm?"

Jamie didn't flinch. "Like I told you before, Pitch, I'm not afraid of you."

"No, no, you aren't afraid of me." Pitch conceded. "At least, not directly. You're a father now, Jamie. And with all the fears and hopes that come with it. You're not afraid of me for yourself. You would stare me down to your dying breath if you had to."

Pitch threw a careless arm over Jamie's shoulder, drawing the man close. "You are afraid for your children, though. Afraid I'll scoop them up in the night, steal them off. Or afraid I'll whisper in their ears. Just like I did with Stalin, and Hitler, and every other tyrant. And you're scared that you'll be the one to blame, because you couldn't protect them."

Pitch stole around to Jamie's other side. "And the fears you have for your children, the more regular ones? Splendid. A delight to behold. You really do have an overactive imagination, don't you?"

Jamie gave a snort. "If you're looking for the documents, you won't get them."

Pitch laughed, and drew away. Caressing the book, he threw a wink at Jamie. "What would I want with Lunar's musty old pages? They are of no interest to me. No, I want my freedom. Freedom to hide in the stars, to pillage and burn and kill. And this lovely young lady," he gestured carelessly at Mani. "Is my ticket out of here."

Carelessly, the Nightmare King scooped her up, vanishing into the shadows.

Jamie crossed his arms and glared at the spot where Pitch had vanished. But he was long gone, and Mani with him.

Cornelius searched the room, ignoring Jamie. "Where'd he go? He was just here!"

Jamie gave a sigh. "My hometown of Burgess. That's where his lair is. I guess it's where the Nightmare Galleon fell." Jamie pulled out a snow globe, turning it over in his hands. "I didn't want you to get dragged into any of this. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before. From here on out, you run the risk of getting involved in a war that isn't yours. I'm going to fight, but I'll understand if you don't."

George shrugged, checking his bow and quiver. "Like you said, we're involved. So, I guess we'll just have to fight. Besides, you don't mess with a friend of the Shrinks' and get away with it. I'm in this for the long haul."

Cornelius nodded. "I once got scooped up in a time machine by my son from the future and had to fight an evil talking hat that sent a dinosaur after me. The Boogeyman's pretty much par for the course by now. Count me in. But I need to stop by my workshop. There are some gadgets there that I've been working on."

Jamie nodded. He gave the snow globe a shake, and grinned. "I say, Robinson Workshop." He threw the snow globe, watching as it erupted into a familiar portal. Cornelius darted through, and George followed right behind. Jamie entered last, scooping up the globe before the portal vanished.

On the other side, Cornelius was scurrying about. "I've been working on some stuff for you George, just in case Sparkle the Eighth tried to do you in. I was saving it for your birthday next month, but now's as good a time as any."

He pulled out a cardboard box, and pulled out a small machine that looked fairly similar to George's original Zoopercar. "I've been calling it the Z-3. I took the original zoopercar blueprints, reworked all of the wiring and technology, and I added a bit of an antigravity ray too, courtesy of Mani."

He set it to the side. "There's also a real working compound bow and arrows, rather than just toothpicks. I figure it'll do more damage."

George took the bow, and drew back on the cord, testing the draw strength. "It's a good bow. Must be forty ounces to draw." He looked over the Z-3. "Refined steering, adjusted propulsion, real chrome and steel plating. You really went all out on this, Cornelius! Thanks!"

Cornelius checked a retro-modelled blaster, and grinned. "Thanks. It's one of my better inventions, if I do say so." He tucked the blaster into a holster, and pulled on a Kevlar vest. "We've got to get going, though. Pitch waits for no man."

Jamie nodded, and shook the snow globe again. "Bennet House!" He turned to George and Cornelius. "I'll be right back. I just have to collect a few more things." He stepped into the portal, reappearing in the kitchen.

Chilali didn't even react. "It's all sharpened and polished for you." She gave him a kiss, and gestured to a large Yeti mace that was lying in the corner. "I'm too far along to come with you, but the kids will be just fine." She hugged him, and helped him fasten on the armour that he had accrued over the years. Settling the helm over his head, she passed him his sword. "Come home safely. I'll have dinner on."

Jamie nodded, and stepped back to the Robinson Workshop. "Ready to go?"

"I say, North Pole." They stepped through the portal, and into chaos.

The guardians had managed to start a five way tug of war between the Yetis, the iron Djinni, the Big five, the Man in the Moon, Nightlight, Ombric, and Katherine, and the elves. The elves were winning.

Jack was the first to notice the new arrivals. "Jamie!"

The young guardian bounded over, and shook his friend's shoulder. "I never would have guessed that the elves could beat robots in a game of tug of war and who are they?" Jack jumped topics mid conversation, tipping his head curiously at George and Cornelius, both of whom looked like they were more than a little bit out of their elements.

Jamie shrugged. "Coworkers. Pitch accosted them and one of their friends, and they volunteered to help."

"Pitch? He's moving? Did he get the documents?"

Jamie shook his head. "No. He didn't want them after all. He went after one of George's – George is the one in the plane- friend Mani – she's an extraterrestrial who was visiting- in order to try to use her as either a bargaining chip, or a mechanic to get the Galleon rebuilt."

Jack frowned. "North was right." He paced back and forth, rubbing his staff between his palms, coating the wood in a slick layer of ice. "He's trying to break free."

"We can't let him. Humans are used to him. The rest of the Universe? They're terrified of him. They still have recordings of Pitch's initial rampage. We can't let him get out there!" Jamie was emphatic.

North wandered over, finally having noticed the arrivals. "Not to worry. We have been preparing. Pitch will not be expecting an army to fight him on equal ground. You are ready, Jamie?"

Jamie nodded. "But first, we have to launch a rescue mission. I need to borrow Jack, if that's alright."

"It is alright. Baby Tooth as well. She also knows Pitch's lair, and will be able to guide you if Jack gets distracted."

Baby Tooth flew over, looking all around at the Z-3 and at George. She peeped a polite hello at Cornelius, thinking that George was a remote controlled doll at first.

George chuckled, drawing the fairy's attention. He was real. A real tiny man, with really tiny teeth. Giving an excited warble, she pulled George from the cockpit, sticking her fingers in his mouth to better examine such miniscule molars.

Tooth hovered over to see what the commotion was, and burst out laughing. "Baby Tooth, remember what North said? 'Fingers out of mouth!"

Baby Tooth reluctantly removed her fingers. She chirped up at Tooth, exclaiming over the microscopicity of George's teeth.

Jack whistled, distracting the small fairy. "Ready to go, Baby Tooth?"

She nodded, and waved a small sword energetically. George climbed back into the cockpit, and fought back a blush. She was cute, for a bird-girl.

Jamie shook the snow globe once every one who was going was gathered. "I say, Pitch's Lair."

* * *

Critiques are welcome.


	11. Mind Games

Pitch seems to be avoiding a fight for some reason. Every time I try to make him confront people, he worms out of it. But then, that's what he's good at.

* * *

Chapter 11

Jack dropped nimbly into Pitch's lair, shivering at the unsettling cold that crept in from the corners and hung in dry air.

The cavern had changed in twenty years, although Jack supposed a part of that had to do with the fact that the tooth containers were no longer heaped carelessly on the floor. But it was more than that. The more closely that he looked, the more convinced he became that something was wrong.

Baby Tooth hovered beside him, muttering peeps of how odd it looked with all the nightmare sand.

Jack looked down. Huge dunes of nightmare sand covered the floor. It wasn't moving, just lying there like ordinary sand. Dragging a toe through it, he watched the sand swirl up in grasping streams, only to fall back down onto itself when it found nothing of worth.

Most of the staircases and clutter had been removed now, turning what had been clutter, disorganization, and terrifying confusion into subtly horrifying neatness. A fine rain of sand drizzled onto his shoulders, and Jack shook out his hood, pulling it over his head to keep the sand out of his hair. When a larger chip fell right in front of him, he risked looking up.

Black things that writhed like tar and looked like men were crowded on the ceiling. They were using long wicked claws to scrape away the roof, and thin it through to the outside world. Here and there, he could already see grass roots sticking through.

Jamie looked around beside him, tightening a hand on his sword. "I don't like the looks of this one bit, Jack. Those are fearlings up there. A lot of them."

Jack smiled, shoving away his fear. "Really? I was expecting them to be bigger, and have tentacles."

"Well, well, well. It would appear that I have some company."

Pitch appeared from the shadows. Jack hid deeper in the hood. He looked different in his armor, and with the hood up, his staff and bare feet were the only clues to his identity.

Pitch looked unconcerned by the intrusion. "Feel free to take a look around. Maybe you'll even find your little friend. But watch out." The Nightmare King pointed to the sand under there feet. "Most of that sand is dormant, for the time being. But some patches can be…restless. Happy hunting."

Pitch withdrew, and Jack bit back a grimace. If the Boogeyman was letting them wander around, without even trying to talk them into anything, he had something big planned. It was one of the only times that he would ever pass up a golden, or in this case, pitch black opportunity.

Jack drifted off, the young man with wild blond hair – Cornelius- he reminded himself, following behind, his toy blaster at the ready.

Jack ghosted along, unwilling to touch the black sand with his bare skin for longer than a few moments. It leeched into his skin like a virus, and made his blood run cold. Colder.

Pitch came out of the shadows, so close that Jack almost ran into the man. Stumbling backwards, he hovered over the black sand, not liking one bit how it reached up to meet his feet and pull him back down. Tucking his legs so they were almost bent double, he leveled his staff at Pitch defensively.

"You can put that down. Or not. No need to point it at me, I'm just here to talk." Pitch looked far too innocent for the black heart that swam in his chest. Pitch talking meant nightmares for weeks, whether or not you were actually afraid of him.

"Yeah. And then you'll mess with my head again. No thanks. I'm not listening."

Pitch looked surprised for a moment. "Why jack! I didn't recognize you there. I must say, the new wardrobe looks splendid on you. Very snow and ice, now that I look at it. But as for messing with your head, Jack, it's what I do. You wouldn't expect me to give that up. No more so than you could give up your ice and snow."

Jack turned down one of the long hallways that was still standing, ignoring Pitch. Cornelius hurried behind, keeping an eye out for any trouble.

"We should have run into something by now."

Jack shook his head, the silver oak tassel on his hood chiming. "Not in Pitch's lair. He wants to crush us personally."

"A touching sentiment." Pitch lounged on a railing overhead, his chin resting in one hand. "And quite true, actually. You leave here either with my consent, or not at all. And right now, 'not' comes to mind."

Cornelius pointed down an adjacent hall, away from Pitch. "This way?"

They moved carefully though the tunnel. It was small and narrow, more so than any of the others. Jack summoned a light in his staff, holding the snow in check. The eerie blue light bounced off of rough walls where winter icicles still hung unmelted. The sight gave Jack the chills.

Pitch came out of the shadows ahead, simply standing there, daring them to attack. Jack raised his staff, and spotted an iced over passageway. Nudging Cornelius with an elbow, he nodded at the tunnel.

Cornelius adjusted a dial on his blaster, and fired a pulsating ray of heat at the door, melting the ice enough for Jack to break through it with his staff. They slipped through, away from Pitch. Pitch gave a smirk, before following them down the tunnel, not fading into the shadows.

They came out in a small room, empty except for the sand on the floor, and a large object covered in tarps.

Curious, Jack and Cornelius pulled off the tarps. Cornelius gave a gasp when he saw what was underneath.

"The prototype! But what's it doing here?" Jack looked at Cornelius, baffled. "My son from the future scooped me up in this time machine and I ended up fighting an evil hat. I kind of forgot about the prototype. Wondered what became of it. I guess this answers my question."

Jack looked at the machine uneasily, even as Cornelius climbed into the cockpit. Perching on the hood in front of the young man, he shifted anxiously. "What are you doing?"

"Taking it back. It's too dangerous to be left with Pitch. He'd be worse than the hats."

"I don't know about that." Pitch sauntered into the room. "I actually can't think of anything that I'd use it for. Except, you know, as a trap."

The sand surged around the time machine, throwing Jack forward and into the machine. Fearlings fell from the roof, mad grins on their faces. They slammed the cockpit shut, and sand surged inside from its hiding place. It snatched the controls from Cornelius, fiddling with the dials and activating the machine. Jack and Cornelius barely had time to shout before they were gone.

Pitch waved a goodbye, and turned to leave the room. "Oh Jack. I don't need to speak to break you. You have a wonderful habit of doing that all by yourself. Give my regards to Asgard, won't you?"

He disappeared into the shadows. Two down, three to go. This was turning out to be a good day after all.

Jamie followed George through the maze. Beside him, Baby Tooth kept up a running commentary on where they were. She hovered in short bursts, never too far away from either man. The sand crunched under his feet, and aside from the sounds of their party, the only other noise was the scraping of the fearlings high overhead.

George studied his monitor, adjusting a few frequencies. "Mani should be down this way." He hovered down a corridor that looked like a child had turned it on its side and then forgotten about it. "At least, she's in this general direction. No way of knowing if this corridor will lead us to her, though."

"It will." Pitch walked out of the shadows calmly. "But you won't be going that way. You won't be getting near her, in fact." A couple of fearlings dropped down, hunching behind Pitch menacingly. "You can all just pull up a chair. You're going to be here a while, after all."

A Nightmare crept up beside Jamie, nosing at his coat. It pulled out the snow globe, and trotted over to Pitch with a triumphant whicker. Pitch took the snow globe, and turned it over in his hands. "Where would be the best place to banish you all to? Antarctica? Mozambique? The Taj Mahal? Or, how about your offices. You do have work today, after all. You just gallivanted off without informing anyone. And right before the release too. Can you really afford that Jamie? You've had this position less than two weeks, after all. I think not."

Pitch shook the snow globe. Fearlings and Nightmares crowded in, forcing the warriors closer together. Pitch gave a dark smile. "Do give Mr. Joyce my regards. His daughter's fear was always delightful." Whispering into the globe, Pitch tossed it at the remains of the rescue party.

As they disappeared, Pitch shrugged. "Divide, conquer. It always works so beautifully."

* * *

Remember Bunny's time travel comment? I wondered what happened to Cornelius' other time machine. Now we know, I guess.

And leaving work without telling anyone, even for a good reason, can have reprecussions. Pitch is very good at exploiting things, yes?

Critique is welcomed.


	12. Playing the Waiting Game

We're almost at the climax here! Anothe short chapter, especially after such a wait. But the next one should be the climax. I'll try to fit everything into one extra long chapter for everyone! It might take a few days, though. So sit tight, and enjot the ride!

* * *

Chapter 12

Pitch slid from the shadows into his cabin on the Nightmare Galleon. Contrary to what he had told Jamie and his little friends, their alien ally had been right in front of them the entire time. He tapped on the glass of her prison, frowning thoughtfully when she didn't react.

"Have you grown tired of terror already? I know that your fear of me hasn't diminished in the slightest."

The little alien didn't even look at him. "It hasn't. But it's easier to be more afraid of what you can't see, than what you can sometimes. I'm more afraid of what you might do, than what you are doing right now. And that makes it easy to ignore you."

Pitch nodded. "It's a beautiful thing, really. You know so well how your mind can play tricks on you, come up with far more personal terrors than I could. And I don't even have to lift a finger. But enough of the fear and chit chat. My fearlings found your ship. A direct link to your friends, family, commanding officers, little things like that."

"You won't fit in there. You're too big."

"I don't have to. I just have to tap onto your frequency." Pitch ran a hand over one of the dashboards, and an ancient monitor flickered to life. Carelessly, he adjusted his instruments, homing in on the signal sent by the little space ship.

A large eye flickered onto the screen, blinking as it looked around. "Manigishi? Whatever are you doing in a jar? You're nearly twenty four hours late for your return!" The eye stepped back, revealing a large white version of Mani's race. "And who's the human with you? I thought you were with George."

Pitch gave a bow. "Terribly sorry for the intrusion, but I'm afraid that Manigishi is indisposed at the moment. She's currently being held hostage by yours truly."

The figure glared. "You will release my officer at once, human. The House of Orion will not bow to your petty demands for autographs, weapons, or faster than light technologies. Do I make myself clear?"

Pitch nodded. "Quite clear. However. I was hoping to cut a deal just for some replacement parts. You give me those, I let her go and don't murder her brutally in front of you. Is that agreeable?"

"I will not negotiate with any human governments or sadistic terrorists boasting revenge schemes. Now relinquish my officer, or you will find yourself staring down the barrel of an armada. That is my final answer."

Pitch settled into a chair in front of the monitor and leaned back. "Are you afraid of anything, sir? Losing your job, having your children kidnapped, me getting loose into the galaxy once more, any of those things ring a bell?"

"I will not be intimidated by a common criminal. You have five minutes."

"You're being generous. That's three more than I need. Very well, if you won't be intimidated by a lowly criminal, you'll be happy to learn you aren't dealing with one. Now then. You are a very brave man, sir, to have threatened me with an armada. I'm sorry to say, however, that my Fearlings would make short work of any of your forces."

The figure blinked in confusion. "Fearlings? Now you're being absurd. The only one ever to command them was Kosmotis Pitchiner, and he was killed millennia ago."

Pitch examined his fingernails. "I prefer to go by Pitch Black now, if it's quite alright with you, but you are speaking to him."

"Pitchiner is dead. Long dead. Stop being ridiculous. You have three minutes before you come under full bear of our weapons. Am I clear?"

"Yes. Quite. So am I, in fact. Since you clearly won't be convinced of my identity by mere words, I am more than happy to provide letters of reference, the heads of my enemies, and my resume. Oh, and my fearlings. I can't forget about them now, can I?"

Pitch snapped his fingers, calling in one of the fearlings. It sauntered into the room, a mad grin on its face. Pitch patted it on the shoulder, cooing at it. "Good lad. Now then, could you inform the nice space ship commander of who I am? He seems to have a hard time accepting my identity."

The fearling roared, leaping at the monitor. It bared its teeth, hissing balefully at the commander.

The commander turned whiter than he already was. "It's not possible."

Pitch shrugged. "To quote earth novelist Mark Twain, 'reports of my death were grossly exaggerated.' Pleased to make your acquaintance. Can I have those parts now, or will I have to wait approximately five business days for delivery?" He managed to make it sound like a completely innocent request. He'd gotten much better at injecting humour into spine chilling terror while he was on earth. It was a delicate art, cracking a joke while completely breaking someone at the same time. Humans were experts in that, if nothing else.

The commander stepped out of the frame for a moment speaking in hushed tones to someone that Pitch couldn't see.

He had them. Hook, line, and sinker.

The portal spat Jamie, George, and Baby Tooth out in the middle of the lobby. Jamie climbed to his feet, disoriented by the sudden change in location. Vaguely, he was aware of that everyone had stopped to stare at the two graphic designers who had just appeared out of nowhere, one brandishing a sword and wearing a full suit of armour.

The secretary groaned, resting her head on the desk. "George, how many times have we told you not to drag the new guys on wild goose chases?"

"In my defense, it was a tame goose this time. It just got the better of us is all." Apparently George had a reputation for unusual occurrences. And fortunately, could spin a convincing story too.

"Whatever the case may be, Mr. Bennet is still new, and really cannot afford to be missing nearly four hours of work. I was asked to let you know when you got in that you were to make up the lost time. Tomorrow is the deadline, and we're all at crunch time. So chop chop you two. Work's a calling."

Jamie sat down at his desk, still in full armour. He rested his fingers on the keys, more than slightly unnerved by the very fact that he was at work again, when ten minutes ago he had been staring down Pitch.

The boogeyman was clever, he had to give the spirit that. Trapping the three of them here, rather than confronting them… the plan was insidious. They were lucky, though, that George's reputation made for a good cover story. He liked working at Moonbot, and would rather not have to leave.

Harry turned around, taking in his brother and co-worker's strange attire. "You could have waited for me you know." He complained. "I love going on your goose hunts."

George sat down on the desk. "It wasn't a goose hunt. The boogeyman grabbed Mani and we were trying to rescue her. We had to leave as fast as possible."

Harry nodded. "Yeah. And I could have helped too. You two didn't have to go it alone you know."

Jamie frowned, shifting in his armor. "We didn't go it alone. We had Cornelius, and Jack with us."

George tapped his knee thoughtfully. "Speaking of Cornelius and Jack, where are they? I know that Baby Tooth came back with us, but I haven't seen them do you have any ideas?"

Jamie leaned back in his chair, rolling it about thoughtfully. "Pitch hates Jack. No way he'd have come to deal with us before dealing with Jack. We're a minor inconvenience. As a Guardian, Jack is way more dangerous than we could ever be." He clenched his hands, feeling the metal bite his skin. "Whether they're still alive, or if they've been captured and Pitch is holding them, I don't know."

Harry sighed, and turned back to his work. "Stop fretting about it. It isn't a big deal, you know. We have to get back to work first and foremost. If the boogeyman wants a fight, he'll get one. Later. Right now, we can't go gallivanting off. I'll speak to Morris about getting us out of here early. Then we bring the fight to him. No one messes with a friend of the Shrinks and gets away with it."

Jamie smiled, his heart growing a bit lighter. Jack was strong, and Cornelius innovative. Pitch would have to contend with the full force of the Guardians in the mean time. So they would wait. Bide their time, and finish work.

But later, when work was finished? The Nightmare King was going down.

* * *

Critique is welcome.


	13. Shoot the Moon

We're at the brink of the climax. Next chapter should definitively be the climax, then we wind down to a close. Thank you all for your reviews, your consideration, and your devotion. You made this story possible, and I am proud to write this for you.

* * *

Chapter 13

The Pole was a bustle of activity. Tsar Lunar had departed back for the moon, but everyone else had stayed, and was rushing around frantically in preparation for the battle. Baby Tooth had come back frantically, with word that Pitch had stolen a snow globe and routed their rescue attempt. So, the Guardians were gearing for war. North ran a thumb over the ancient sword in his grasp.

It had been a long time since they had last used the relics bestowed on them by MiM. Hopefully, the relics were still as potent as they had always been. Otherwise, they were in for a long, hard fight.

Tooth's thoughts drifted absently into his mind as she prepped her fairies for battle. Her core battalion was hard at work whipping the others into brigades, the six of them humming back and forth busily. The chatter from her mind was like a background drone, soothing and anchoring him.

Beside him, the Yetis and elves were arming themselves, preparing cannons, maces, spears, and the deadly-accurate crossbows that they so favoured. Bunnymund had cleaned off his eggs, polishing away two hundred years of calcification and moss until the stone and metal underneath it all shone once again. Bunny himself was limbering up with his staff, getting back into the rhythm of fighting with more than just deadly boomerangs.

Sandy was sleeping. The elder guardian needed all of the dreamsand that they could get, in case Pitch tried anything with the nightmares again. So, he dreamt, filling the minds of his fellow guardians with fantastic visions that soothed the temper that threatened to overcome them. Dreamsand covered the globe in a glowing golden cocoon, shifting and undulating lazily.

Outside in the courtyard, some of the yetis had dredged up Bunny's old egg like locomotive, and were loading it with supplies- weaponry, food, and medical accoutrements. The reindeer had been shod, and outfitted with battle armor. The silvery metal gleamed magnificently in the sunlight, and their antlers glistened with sharp spikes.

Ombric was in the library, readying spells and battle plans. The old Atlantean wizard hadn't fought Pitch since back in the Dark Ages, when they were still getting their footing. What the Nightmare King was like now, and if he could hold him off, Ombric couldn't say. Nearby, Katherine checked again that her dagger was in place, that her armour was secure. She remembered her captivity by Pitch clearly. He had to be stopped, restrained and held at bay.

Nightlight hovered above the globe, counting the lights of the children. He could feel the spell they were weaving, around all of the guardians. I believe, I believe, I believe. I believe that Santa is real, that the Easter bunny is, the Tooth fairy and the Sandman. I believe in Jack Frost. Believe they will protect us, care for us. That they won't let anything bad happen.

Believing is a powerful spell, the first and greatest piece of magic. So long as children believed in them, kept up that greatest of spells, believed without a doubt that the Guardians could do anything, then they would do anything.

The moonbeam glittered from its place in the dagger at the end of Nightlight's staff. It was ready to fight. Ready to stop Pitch again, and drive back the darkness. It would fight with Nightlight and the Guardians until it had flickered out forever.

Nightlight grinned at the moonbeam, and resumed his counting.

One of the elves sounded a horn, the long sound echoing through the workshop. Every Guardian looked up from their preparations. Pitch was on the move. It was time to fight.

Bunny darted to his train, glad to be at the controls here, and not flying in that death trap that North had the nerve to call a sleigh. How could it be safe? It flew around pulled by reindeer, and didn't even have the common sense to be egg-shaped. There was no way that it was safe. Especially not with seatbelts.

The yetis filed onto the train behind him, crowding in beside the warrior eggs and Ombric. Bunnymund tapped one long hindpaw gently against the ground, opening the tunnel that would take them to Pitch. Pulling at the levers, he set the engine moving gracefully into the tunnel. The whisking sound of the engine filled his ears and Bunnymund grinned. Two hundred years was two hundred years too long.

In the sleigh, North crowded into the seat with the whole original host of his elves, as well as all of the new ones. Below, he could see the last car of Bunny's locomotive chugging into the tunnel. The old bandit looked at Tooth with a grin. "Ready?"

The sky was almost black with all of the mini fairies, as well as Sandy, Katherine, Nightlight, and more elves riding on reindeer. Tooth nodded from her place beside him. "Let's get going." She beat her wings excitedly, feeling for the scimitars that she had strapped to her hips. "It's been so long since I last really fought. This time, I'll give Pitch a lot more to think about than just a lost tooth."

Katherine flew up on Kailash. "No killing him. We are better than that." She reminded everyone sternly. Nightlight shimmered beside her, giving a sharp nod. He had no desire to feel the white hot burning pain of rage again. He'd felt it enough as it was.

North shook the reins, and pulled out a snow globe "Burgess!" he yelled. The portal erupted in the sky, and all of the mini fairies began streaming through. The reindeer pulling the sleigh reared, and charged through the gate that hung in the sky. Sandy swirled his sand into a smaller replica of his old dreamsand comet. It was time to show off a bit, yes?

The final battle had begun.

Jamie, Harry, and George all clustered together in Jamie's kitchen after work. Mary and John had been helping Chilali prepare for the fight. They'd been making snacks and fetching blankets ever since the grow ups had gotten off work. Wistfully, Chilali straightened her husband's armor. "I wish that I was going with you."

Jamie wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently. "I know. I wish you were coming too. But at least the kids will be safe. We could all use some hope in that right now."

He bent down, looking at John and Mary. "And you two have a very important role to play. What's the first rule of magic?"

John looked at Mary with a grin. "Magic doesn't work unless you believe."

"Good. Now, what are you going to do?"

"I believe, I believe, I believe!" Mary chanted happily, sticking her tongue out at her older brother. "Believe in Daddy!"

Jamie ran his hand through Mary's hair. "Good job, kiddo. If you can believe hard enough, you can do anything. Got it?"

"Got it!" the two chorused together.

"Good job, both of you. Now, I have a very special, and very important mission for you. Even more important than believing. Can you do it?" Jamie asked gently. The plan had just occurred to him, the product of a thousand stories, and a thousand dreams. This plan wouldn't fail. The magic would see to that. Bending down, he whispered into their ears, watching as smiles broke out on their faces.

"What was that about?" Harry asked in confusion.

Jamie took the spare snow globe from Chilali. "Secret weapon. But right now, it's time to fight. Burgess!"

The three of them ran through the portal, arriving at the statue of Thaddeus Burgess. Jamie breathed the cool air with a happy sigh. The memories of the first battle, of the sled ride with Jack, this was his childhood. The most magical place that he could think of, even counting the Guardian's homes. Only Sandy's island ever seemed to come close in his mind.

George looked around. "Looks like a pretty everyday place to me. Kinda reminds me of our hometown."

Harry grinned. "And Becky?" the younger man asked with a grin.

"And Mom, Dad, Aunt Eunice. It's a really nice town."

Light flashed nearby, and a blue boomerang shaped ship bubbled into existence. Jack and Cornelius climbed shakily out of the cockpit. Cornelius had a bit of a beard growing, and Jack's clothes were ripped and stained with mud. Jamie looked in surprise. "What happened to you two?" he asked incredulously.

Jack shrugged. "Pitch tricked us, and trapped us in a time machine. It quit on us when we arrived, and took about a month to fix. On the plus side, I got my time travel in. Bunny said I would sooner or later. Just didn't expect it to be sooner."

Cornelius gave a nod. "For the record, please don't mention Norway for a few years. I've had more than enough of crazy Asgardians and Frost Giants."

Above their heads, another portal opened, and Tooth's army began streaming through, followed by a giant goose, Sandman, Tooth Fairy, and more flying reindeer than you could shake a stick at. They headed for the woods, and Jamie turned to his companions. "This is it, I guess."

Jack nodded, and placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Just remember to have fun, right?" he asked with a grin. At Jamie's nod, Jack called the wind to him, and balanced on the breeze. "Then let's get going! We've got a fight to catch!"

The ground bulged not too far from Jack's pond. Soil swelled, tearing at grass roots and trees. Pebbles and old leaves skittered down the side of the bulge, and every animal in the area turned and ran. Grass ripped, as shiny black claws poked through at the center of the mound, pulling clods of dirt away from the hole.

The hole grew rapidly, and the fearlings hissed and shrieked with triumph, scurrying back down the sides as first the mast, then the rigging of the Nightmare Galleon poked out of the hole in the ground. Pitch smirked at the ground from his place at the bow, watching as loose stone and earth tumbled down into the cavernous abyss. From the depths, fearlings mounted on the nightmares caressed their mounts gently, whispering dark and malicious words into the ears of the beasts.

Others crowded the decks and holds of his ship. The remains of his dream pirate army scuttled about, placing harpoons made of nightmare sand forged out of the life's essence of captured moonbeams into the cannons. The screams of the moonbeams unlucky enough to still be trapped in the coarse and hard black glass wailed in his ears, the prelude to his symphony of agony.

The relic of the Moon Clipper shone bright overhead as the last member of a dead house valiantly rallied his moths and moonbeams for battle.

Pitch couldn't keep a delighted grin off of his face. "Soon, little boy. Soon I will give you a special nightmare. I've been saving it just for you, to give it to you before I crush the life from your eyes. And then, you can join your parents at last."

The Nightmare Galleon rose high into the sky, beyond the clouds and until it was nearly at the Moon Clipper.

Pitch looked down, staring at the pitted and lonely surface, and at the glowworms hiding in the craters. Raising a grey hand, he let it fall.

Dull booms rang out across the decks as the harpoons sped from the cannons, dragging rattling, gasping, screaming chains behind them, to land in the side of the moon, and grow, a dark virus that spread across its surface, dyeing the moon a hideous and rippling black that blotted out every trace of white and good.

"Now you can watch. Watch me take away everything that you've ever cared about, rip apart all of your hard work and effort, and sit there in despair until I come for you myself." The Nightmare Galleon dove back through the clouds, leaving writhing black chains hanging from the moon. He didn't glance back, even as the chains came alive and grew, wrapping and strangling the small satellite.

He had some pesky gnats to swat. They had gotten in his way long enough. It was time to show them how he had earned his title of Nightmare King. With the galaxy aware of him, believing in him, fearing him, he was stronger now. And they would learn that to their own peril.

The guardians gathered at Jack's lake. Jamie stared at the sky, watching the black blot spread over the surface of the moon. "He made an eclipse?"

North nodded. "He has grown stronger. Someone has given him power. More than we suspected." He pulled out his swords, spinning them causally. "Good thing we have an army. Otherwise, I'd be worried."

The clearing was packed. Jack had frozen the lake halfway through, paranoid about the ice cracking. Yetis, eggs, elves and fairies mingled without borders. Some of the Yetis had stopped in at their old homeland, bringing hundreds of giant geese through, all ridden by men and women with happy smiles and daring hearts. There was even a giant polar bear with a black throat, standing tall and proud among them in yeti-made armour.

Ombric had smiled, mentioning only that they came from his home village, and were better fighters than they all first appeared. North, Katherine and Nightlight had looked overjoyed.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Jamie looked nervously at the four huge reindeer that Jack was leading over. "I've never ridden a horse, Jack. You know that."

Jack shrugged. "Good thing it isn't a horse then. Otherwise, we might be in trouble." A wry grin lit up his face, and his good mood was contagious. Jamie took a deep breath, swinging up into the saddle. Beside him, Cornelius and Harry did the same. George hovered nearby, adjusting some controls on the Z-3.

A horn sounded, and Jamie glanced up. The sky was black with fearlings. They rode on the back of nightmares, and blotted out stars, moon, and clouds. The shadows were dark, and the only illumination came from the light pollution around Burgess.

In front of the army sailed a fearsome ship, covered in spines, and bristling with fearlings. Pitch stood at the helm, sneering down at the army in front of him. Jamie took a deep breath, reminding himself of the plan, of the magic that he had woven before the battle. Pulling out his phone, he skimmed it quickly before tucking it back in one pocket. On schedule.

Pitch leaned against the railing, staring down. "My, my. You have all been very busy haven't you. I haven't seen a force like this since the end of the Dark Ages. At least, not made up of such rag tag members. The Second World War was much more impressive than this little performance of yours."

North scowled, shaking his relic sword at Pitch from his place on the sleigh. "You just wait. You will not be leaving! We will not let you!"

Pitch laughed. "You are just a silly boy, Nicholas, dreaming of grandeur. I could have left at any time. The demise of the Guardians is the only reason I haven't. I promised Lunanoff a nightmare before I killed him. Your deaths will qualify."

Harry shifted uneasily on his reindeer, and Jamie glanced over at him. He was reminded suddenly, vividly, of the fact that the young Shrinks was the only one who hadn't had to endure Pitch's mind games before. Nudging his reindeer over, he put a hand on Harry's shoulder in reassurance.

"Don't worry. Pitch loves to hear himself talk. We'll get to the fighting in a moment."

Ombric glared at Pitch furiously. "Your games are nothing, Pitch. We will fight, and yes, die, to the last of us if it means stopping you. Come! There is no fear here that we cannot conquer!"

Pitch sneered darkly at the host gathered below. "Very well. Let the end begin."

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This is officially the longest chapter of the story, hence why the battle isn't in this part. The Nightmare Galleon harpooning the moon to create an eclipse was one of the possible climaxes for the original film. How could I not use it?

Critiques are welcome


	14. What Just Happened?

Here's a new chapter to celebrate the release of the film on DVD/Bluray!

It's a bit shorter, with a bit more happening. Next chapter should clear up any remaining details. If you do get confused about a point, let me know so that I can clarify it, please.

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Chapter 14

The Nightmare Galleon pitched forward, the bow snarling with Fearlings as it dropped like a rock. Blackened harpoons hissed through the air, sinking into the ground to spread tarlike tendrils, smothering grass and trees like a plague. Dream Pirates dropped to the ground, swords made of lead from the earth's core caught in their grasp. The swords drank in the remaining light thirstily, turning dim light to worse.

The Guardians and their army ignored the light problem. They wouldn't be deterred by something like that. North gave a yell, cutting through the first of the Dream Pirates with ease, ducking to avoid a nasty swipe from a Fearling claw. He'd had enough of dying, thank you very much. Nearby, Tooth had her swords out, and was cutting through any nightmare or Fearling that dared to get close. Her wings did the rest, the knifelike blades that adorned them shredding anything that tried to attack her from behind.

Katherine and Nightlight had teamed up, his spear flashing through the nightmares as Moonbeam shone with all its might. It knew how to fight back against the lead weapons that Pitch had tried before. Katherine had traded her dagger for a larger rapier, and was slicing anything that tried to approach to ribbons. She stepped back, feeling Nightlight's back pressed against hers. She smiled down at her friend. Nothing could beat them when they were together.

Ombric had animated the trees and stones, and was casting spell after spell to slow or hinder the nightmares. Dead leaves obscured their vision and grass reached up in revenge for their fallen brothers and sisters, tearing at their feet. Even the pebbles threw themselves at the enemy whenever one got too close.

Bunny was lethal to anything inside arm's reach. Not for nothing was the pooka a master of martial arts and ancient fighting styles. Pausing for a moment to gulp down a handful of chocolate, he gave a fierce yell that filled his enemies with dread. The last pooka was on the warpath.

Nothing but nightmares and fearlings went near Jack. They couldn't. Jack was ice, and snow, and cold, and he was proving it. Fearlings had been covered in rime frost, or flash frozen. Around him, the air was so cold that it burned the skin of anything that tried to sneak up on him. The training that North had put him through, and the time he had spent in the past had clearly been put to good use, as had the faith that children now had in him. Even the small number was enough to lend him still greater strength.

Sandy spread his dreamsand cloud across the battlefield, its light and power bolstering the fighting force, soothing bad dreams, and tending to those who were falling. Sandy himself had gone after Pitch, the diminutive Guardian lashing out with his bullwhips against the Nightmare King.

Pitch, Jamie noticed, as he hacked a fearling out of the sky, had grown. Jamie was not small, but Pitch's scale was easily the same, if not still greater, than when he was a child and Pitch had been at the peak of his power. Pitch lashed out at Sandy with two swords made of lead from the earth's core forged together with the Nightmare sand. The blades flashed in the light of the dreamsand, drinking in the golden glow, each as long as Jamie was tall, and Pitch didn't seem burdened by them at all.

Sandy discarded the whips, instead summoning countless tendrils of sand to serve in their stead. They lashed out, tearing at Pitch's cloak, snaring his arms and snapping at the swords, even as the blades leeched the life from the grains.

The Guardians turned almost as one, leaving the fearlings instead to the army amassed below. Pitch was a bigger problem.

Much bigger. Pitch laughed, swelling in size until he seemed immeasurably tall. "How many times do I have to tell you?" he taunted, swatting Nightlight to the side as the boy charged. "I have laid waste to planets far greater than this husk. You are nothing but insects for crushing. You are nothing, you mean nothing, you will be nothing."

He stamped his feet to dislodge the buildup of ice, and hurled the guardians to the ground. "Your efforts to stop me have only made me that much stronger." Pitch looked at Jamie. "Especially yours. It would have been just another book. Just another day at the office. One small thing with no real impact. A few more lights on the globe. You're the one who made it turn out this way, Jamie Bennet. The destruction of earth falls on your head."

Jamie grimaced. Stick to the plan. "I might have started this Pitch, but it isn't my fault. You would have tried to escape anyway, whether in one year or one thousand. When it happens doesn't change the fact that we will stop you. No matter if it means we lose our lives. Belief in the Guardians, and what they represent will continue. You will never win."

Pitch shrugged, the action made massive by his size. "What do you mean never? I already have!" he gestured to the armies below. The forces of the guardians had suffered massive wounds. Here and there, Jamie could see Iron Djinni that had been torn apart, yeti lying motionless where they fell, the fur hiding their terrible wounds. Even Cornelius lay still, surrounded by the fearlings he had taken with him. The Guardians struggled to their feet. The last clash with Pitch had taken its toll on all of them, and they were barely standing.

Jamie nodded. "Yes Pitch. We're about to win. Because in all these years, you've forgotten the First Spell."

Pitch raised an eyebrow. "Forgotten it? It's the very thing that's given me all this power! The power of thousands of worlds believing in me. Fearing me. Why ever would I forget it?"

Jamie hopped off his reindeer and pulled out his phone. It took all his effort not to look at Pitch. His kids had done a fantastic job. "Hey Pitch, let me ask you something. No matter how many kids believe in you, how many believe that you're going to win?"

Pitch stopped at that, baffled. "What are you talking about? Haven't you seen this fight, haven't you seen this war?" he gestured to the bodies around them. "How can I not be winning?"

"Before we came here, I had my kids post a bunch of polls online, of whether or not the boogeyman would be able to actually win against the guardians. You only got a handful of wins in any category. More importantly, all over the world, kids actually started to wonder. And guess what, Pitch. Humanity inherently thinks good will win. You see it all the time. You might beat us down, count us out. But you won't win. That same belief that gives you power? It only works until you almost win. Which would be right about now."

Jamie was right. The guardians were rising to their feet, wounds healing before their eyes. Across the battlefield, the fallen were springing to life, healed and ready to go again.

Pitch glared. "Why? This can't be happening! The world doesn't work this way!"

"Kids don't believe that people die in stories. Not really. In their minds, no matter what the story says, those characters never died. We can't kill you, and we can't die either. Also? It doesn't take very long for the good guys to win. Sorry Pitch. The real world might not work that way, but stories do."

Pitch leapt from the rigging, shrinking to a mere seven feet. Snarling incoherently, he lashed out at Jamie.

The sword bit deep into the cover of a book. Humpty Dumpty glared from the pages, a swarm of books flapping behind it. Small men and women wearing leaves nocked arrows to their bows from their perches along the spines. High above, the moon shone down brightly as always, its surface no longer tarred by the Nightmare Chains.

Pitch looked around in utter confusion. "What is going on here?" he screeched.

MiM stepped forward, looking calmly at Pitch as he held on tightly to a great red balloon. "I update my memoirs regularly, Pitch. And I'm not the only one to do so. I figured we might need some extra help, so I let Bill know. He got some of his crew together and sent them up to help.

Pitch glared at MiM. At the man, once a little boy, who had never had a nightmare. "You. You did this? You ruined my plans? You destroyed my armies? How?"

Mim smiled at the Guardians. At Jamie. "Jamie put it quite well I believe. No one doubted that they would win. Besides, like in most stories, a little help near the end goes a long way."

"Well put, Tsar Lunar." A tall white alien, Mani's superior, shimmered into view. "We had the same idea it seems."

MiM nodded politely. "It's MiM, please. Mani mentioned her convictions to you then?"

Mani's superior looked surprised for a moment, then burst out laughing. The sound made the Nightmare King flinch. The tall alien nodded. "We let fear blind us for so long, we forgot that we could win, until Mani realized it after Pitch captured her. Earth learned it along time ago, it seems. I believe that it was called the First Spell?"

Jamie nodded. "I believe, I believe, I believe. The first, and most powerful." He turned, watching as the reinforcements shooed the remaining fearlings and nightmares away. 'what are you going to do about Pitch?"

The alien shrugged from his place next to MiM. Do? Tell bedtime stories to our children. Find those strong enough, and with good hearts who can fulfil the role of Guardian. Protect our children. Pitch is powerless right now, for all that he would like to pretend otherwise. We'll just let him go. We can stop him from doing any more harm, thanks to the Guardians. Who will probably grow even stronger now than they already are, if belief is any indication."

The alien wandered away, conversing lightly with MiM. The leaf men and flying books took their leave, returning however they came. Even the guardians retreated to the pole, leaving Pitch standing in the woods outside of Burgess, still baffled as to how he possibly could have lost so quickly.

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Pitch never really stood a chance. The battle wanted to be over and done, and poor Pitch is very confused. How about you guys? How did you do?


	15. Open Ending

I really needed more of a plot to this. Or at least to write out an outline to this. It certainly would have left less gaping holes in the whole thing.

In other matters, thanks to everyone who faved, followed, and reviewed! You guys have made Moonbot my most popular story! Sadly, all things must draw to an end. I give you, the final chapter.

I don't own rise of the guardians.

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Chapter 15

"Jamie? Jamie it's time to wake up. You're going to be late for school."

Jamie shook his head, trying to dislodge the last traces of Sandy's sleep sand from his eyes. "Mom? What? What's going on?"

His mom chuckled. "Those books must've been a real page turner. You were up until three reading them all." She ruffled his hair lightly. "Come on. Get dressed, get fed. It's going to be cold out and I don't want you missing the bus on the first day at school."

Jamie looked outside. Fern frost covered the windows, turning the outside streets blurry. With a sigh, he picked up his new books and stacked them neatly. His uncle had sent him a copy of the newest series "Rise of the Guardians", knowing how much Jamie loved stories like that. Jamie had gone on a spree reading and watching as much of the author's work as he could handle in one sitting. He guessed that was what triggered the dream.

It had seemed so real though, right up until the ending. That had been seriously weird and completely out of left field. No way was he eating pizza and watching movies before bed ever again. Especially not around dreamsand. It did funny things to the brain; that was for sure.

Some of it had been cool, like Jack's armor, and some of the battles, some of it had been totally weird (Married? To Cupcake? Cooties!) but a dream was just a dream sometimes.

He dashed down the stairs, grabbing his lunch and slamming the door behind him. The others would love to hear about the cool dream. He couldn't wait to meet them at the bus stop.

"Scues me, but do you know where the bus stop is?"

Jamie turned to see a red and white flying car hovering just in front of his nose. One with a very familiar pilot.

George Shrinks rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry, it's my first day and I don't know my way around yet. I'm George by the way, nice to meet you."

A metal claw stuck out from the underside of the zoopercar (was it really called that?). Jamie shook it hesitantly. "Jamie Bennet. This is going to sound weird but did you have a crazy dream last night?"

Dreamsand could mix dreams together sometimes. Jack had told him _stories_.

George shrugged. "No crazier than normal. And my life's pretty weird sometimes too."

"Oh? Jamie had to hear this one. "Tell me about it on the way to the bus stop?"

"Sure. My friend Becky was over, and we were having a pizza and scary movie marathon, and you know those don't mix at all."

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END

Ending Notes- I had this pointed out to me that this would be better off as a crossover.

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I guess I could have classified it as a Rise of the Guardians/Meet the Robinsons. Unfortunately, there's no George Shrinks fanfiction, so I couldn't put it there. Since this fic is now complete, what do you guys think? Should I move it?

About the ending: I really didn't want to make it all a dream of Jamie's but the more I reread it, the more I realized that the only think I could do barring rewrite it altogether was pin the blame on Sandy. I made too many poor choices in the plot, and dragged you, my readers, everywhere. It's jarring, and messy.

Thank you for taking the time to read it, and taking the time to like it.

Until next time!


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